By Wu Huanshu

A fire broke out in the Shiwang Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851-1864), a protected national cultural relic located in Jinhua, in south China's Zhejiang Province, on October 5. The initial suspicions of the Public Security services fell on a disgruntled former Palace employee.

A fire broke out in the Shiwang Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851-1864), a protected national cultural relic located in Jinhua, in south China's Zhejiang Province, on October 5.

According to Wang Wenqi, a Palace Security Guard, the fire started in the northwest sector of the Palace at about 6 PM. At first he thought it was in the Jinhua sixth middle school, which is next door to the palace. He ran to the fire and asked a colleague to call the fire brigade for help. On reaching the spot, he found a room in the west wing of the palace in flames. Although Wang tried to put out the fire, his extinguisher was not powerful enough to halt the blaze.

Fortunately, there was no-one in the wing-room and only some odds and ends were burned before the fire services arrived. It took them nearly an hour to put out the fire. Only the shell of the west wing-room was left; fortunately a set of rare murals in the next room were all saved.

Shiwang Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Jinhua, south China's Zhejiang Province.

Shiwang Palace was built in 1861. It is the biggest and most complete work of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that has survived to the present day, and contains most of the important works of art of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, including its murals.