By Li Xiaohua

Chinese late Chairman Mao Zedong's private airplane has been put up for sale by the owner of a shopping center in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province in southern China. According to csonline.com.cn -- website of Changsha Evening News, Wang Zhilei, general manager of Ridong Group, confirmed that the company had put the 46-meter-long, two-story-high plane up for sale.

Mao's private plane -- for sale at an asking price of 8 million yuan.

"The plane is in good condition," Wang said. "But we need more parking spaces at the shopping center, so we have decided to sell it." Wang said that his group bought the plane in 1999 and put it on display in the shopping center square to attract more custom.

Wang said that many of the center's shop owners had asked for the plane to be moved to make way for more parking spaces.

The asking price of the plane is 8 million yuan (about US$1.2 million).

Mao's plane was one of three Tridents bought by China from Pakistan in 1969.