(16 Aug 2013) A Chinese property owner has started demolition of his private mountain peak and luxury villa illegally built atop a high-rise apartment block in China's capital, after local authorities gave him 15 days to demolish the so-called "most outrageous illegal structure."
Workers wearing orange vests could be seen dismantling the rocky villa on Friday morning.
Caution lines have been set up around the compound reminding residents that demolition on the rooftop is going on.
A medicine mogul spent six years building his own private mountain peak and luxury villa atop a high-rise apartment block in Beijing.
Local authorities have given him 15 days to tear it down.
The craggy complex of rooms, rocks, trees and bushes looming over the 26-story building looks like something built into a seaside cliff, and has become the latest symbol of disregard for the law among the rich as well as the rampant practice of building illegal additions.
Angry neighbours say they've complained for years that the unauthorised, 800-square-foot mansion was damaging the building's structural integrity and its pipe system, but that local authorities failed to crack down.
"I hope this issue can be completed settled this time. I wonder why this problem could not be resolved even though we complaint for years, many people say the owner is very influential and he has connections to powerful people," said a resident surnamed Sun.
The villa's owner has been identified as the head of a traditional Chinese medicine business and former member of the district's political advisory body who resides on the building's 26th floor.
The case has resonance among ordinary Chinese who regularly see the rich and politically connected receive special treatment.
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