Author Topic: Chinese man dismantles villa perched atop apartment block  (Read 978 times)

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Offline flowers

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Chinese man dismantles villa perched atop apartment block
« on: August 15, 2013, 07:02:43 pm »


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BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese property owner has started dismantling an elaborate villa built illegally, complete with a garden, on top of a Beijing apartment block after complaints from his neighbors and a government warning to tear it down.

Aerial photos of the structure, perched on the roof of the 26-story block, near a lake and a busy highway, have been circulating on the Internet for the past week, causing an outcry from the block's residents and amazement at the audacious flouting of planning rules and norms.

On Monday, authorities demanded that Zhang Biqing, the villa's builder, demolish it within 15 days, calling it an illegal structure after residents complained to the local government.

Zhang, a wealthy medicine practitioner who also owns a penthouse in the building, pledged to dismantle the 800-square-metre structure after he was informed of the risks to the public by police and urban management authorities, state news agency Xinhua said.

The brazen structure was the latest example of the blatant disregard for the law among the rich, a source of discontent among many Chinese.

Residents living in the block told Reuters Television on Tuesday they were worried about the extra weight accumulating above their heads.

"Perhaps originally it was designed to withstand a certain weight, but no

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