Nearly two years after their housing of high-end private clubs was exposed, two temples nearby the Forbidden City continued to operate the clubs against regulations, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.

The two temples, the Songzhu Temple and Zhizhu Temple, which are listed as Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Units but are no longer religious venues, reportedly provide luxurious dining and accommodation services to members only.

Both temples date back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and are located on Shatan Beijie, in Beijing's Dongcheng district.

A nearby resident told the Global Times that the temples are not open to the public and they have only seen some people enter driving luxury cars.

In a large dining room in Zhizhu Temple, a chair carved with inlaid dragons - an imitation of an emperor's throne - is displayed, reported Xinhua.

An employee at the restaurant said that the throne is a replica of the original in the Forbidden City, and that diners usually take pictures sitting on it. The temple also features a stage for performing Peking Opera for "officials" who visit the restaurant.

The report said that the restaurant typically charges at least 800 ($129) yuan per person, with dinners reportedly costing as much as 2,000 yuan.

The Global Times also found another Western-style restaurant named Temple Restaurant Beijing in Zhizhu Temple. An employee there said that the average per-person spend is at least 500 yuan, exclusive of a 15 percent service charge.

"Many customers come here because they enjoy how we combine Western and Eastern elements," said the employee.

Employees at the restaurant inside Songzhu Temple denied that they are running a private business to inspectors from the Beijing Religious Affairs Bureau and Beijing Buddhist Association.

Early in 2013, the temples' use for commercial purposes was exposed in media reports. The Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage (BMACH) said they have also sent inspectors to investigate, but that those results have yet to be released.

"Business operations in the temples do not belong to our jurisdiction. We are only responsible for the protection and repair of the cultural relics inside them," a publicity officer with the BMACH told the Global Times.

"The fact that there are private clubs hidden in temples revealed the fractious management of cultural relics units across different government bodies; none of them is willing to shoulder the responsibility when problems are discovered," Zhu Qiuli, an expert with the National Architecture Institute of China, told the Global Times.

Zhu said that cultural relic sites should retain their original functions and be open to the public.

Inspectors from the Beijing Religious Affairs Bureau and Beijing Buddhist Association said that they have conducted a canvass of Beijing's religious venues, and plan to punish those using religious venues for profit if that use raises a strong public reaction or causes negative social impact.

A regulation jointly issued by 10 departments that took effect in November prohibits the establishment of private clubs in historical buildings, parks and other public facilities, as part of a crackdown against hedonism and extravagance among officials.

High-end restaurants, gymnasiums, spas and hotels were among those venues banned.