Culture officials shut down mall

The Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage has finally completed a seven-year battle to evict the shopkeepers from the Xidan Minzu Shopping Mall, an important historical cultural relic.

The mall closed its doors Sunday at midnight, marking the end of its 25 years history as a shopping mecca, most recently for bargain-hunting college girls and Koreaphiles. The mall is on the site of an assembly hall dating back hundreds of years, with ties to Red Mansion writer Cao Xueqin(1715-63) and red pioneers Li Dazhao and Deng Zhongxia. Although the government has been pushing for the eviction since 2006, it still has not settled plans on what it will do with the location, a knowledgeable source told Metropolitan.