Zhang's rooftop palace to come tumbling down
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, August 14, 2013
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A villa privately built on the rooftop of a residential building in downtown Beijing has prompted complaints from neighbours living below. Professor Zhang, the villa owner, has been instructed to tear down the illegal building, according to the property managers.[China.org.cn] |
The owner of a rooftop "mountain palace" in Beijing has yielded to local authorities and promised to demolish it.
Zhang Biqing, a former political adviser of Beijing’s Pinggu District and head of a nationwide chain of acupuncture clinics, said yesterday he had hired workers to carry out the job over the next few days after urban management officials had given him a 15-day deadline to have the structure removed.
The craggy complex of rooms, rocks, trees and bushes looming over the 26-story building looks like something built into a seaside cliff.
Angry neighbors say they’ve complained for years that the unauthorized, 800-square-meter mansion and its landscaping was damaging the building’s structural integrity and its pipe system, but that local authorities failed to crack down. They’ve also complained about loud, late-night parties and the noise of construction work.
Zhang told Legal Evening News that he would like to keep his artificial rockery because it could keep the building cool and deflect smoke emitted from chimneys on the rooftop.
"The vineyard and the sun room, though eco-friendly and with nice river views, will be quickly removed," Zhang said.
"They’ve been renovating for years. They normally do it at night," said a resident on the 25th floor, adding that any attempts to reason with the owner had been met with indifference.
"He was very arrogant. He could care less about my complaints," said the neighbor.
Another neighbor has even called police, claiming he was beaten by Zhang after a verbal dispute. He later moved out.
The residential community’s property management and local authorities were said to have turned a blind eye until recently when photos and videos of the rooftop mansion made headlines around the world.
Meanwhile, the industry and commerce bureau in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, where Zhang’s clinic chain is registered, has begun an investigation into whether its medical services are licensed.
Zhang said he graduated as a doctor after a distance learning program and was president of several hospitals in north China’s Hebei Province before starting his own business.
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