President Chen wades into Lu's housing dispute

While the city designated the site as a municipal historic relic in April last year, the central government upgraded it to a national historic relic in October this year.

The former Yen residence is the first municipal historic relic upgraded to national status after the Cultural Heritage Preservation Law was revised in 1993.

Chang Fang-chih (張放之), secretary-general of the Yen Chia-kan Memorial Association, agreed with Chung.

"Although we fully respect the personal wishes of the vice president, we'd like to see this place transformed into a memorial museum as planned when it was designated a national historic relic," he said.

Sung Lung-chuan (宋隆全), chief of the historic relic section under the city's Bureau of Cultural Affairs, said that although they are happy to see the place upgraded to national status, they'd strongly oppose any inappropriate renovation done to the site.