The scaled-down minimums are 30 percent less than the original target of 5.56 million yuan (US$672,550) for the auction of Liu Xiaoqing's apartments scheduled for January 5, reported the Beijing Daily.

Since the Beijing auction house, which is authorized by the municipal government to sell confiscated assets, announced the auction on Monday, its hot line has been busy.

A resident in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, where Liu Xiaoqing has one apartment, told the auction house that he intends to buy all the 19 houses.

Of the other 18 houses, 15 are located in Beijing, two in Chongqing Municipality and one in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, according to Xie Jingwei, spokesman for the Beijing Auction House.

For the high-end apartments in the capital city, the per-square-meter starting auction bids will be around 2,000 yuan (US$241.9), compared to the average market price of 5,300 yuan (US$641.09), according to the auction house.

It said that if there are more than four bidders for the apartments, the final price will approach the market price.

Successful bidders are required to pay the full amount at once, according to Xie.

A neighbor of one of Liu's apartments in the Shanhu Mansion in Chongqing, which is only partially decorated, said that he bought his house because Liu had bought one there.

"It (buying the house) was my bad choice," said the neighbor.

Many neighbors said they expected to enjoy a good look at the movie star "free of charge" when she moved in.

Liu xiaoqing and her two Beijing companies, mainly dealing in cosmetics, food and advertising, currently owe more than 20 million yuan, including the 14.6 million yuan (US$1.76 million) in evaded taxes and a fine of 5.7 million yuan (US$689,480) for default tax payments.

Tax authorities have recovered nearly 2 million yuan (US$241,920) and frozen Liu's bank deposits of 2.14 million yuan (US$258,860).

(eastday.com December 25, 2002)