A villa that resembles a miniature version of the US presidential palace has been torn down in China for flouting planning rules
Construction on the White House of Shaoxing appears to have started last year, more than two centuries after work began on its American inspiration in 1792
Source : by Tom Phillips, Shanghai
A wealthy Chinese homeowner has seen his own personal White House reduced to a pile of rubble after authorities decided the lavish construction had violated planning regulations.
The White House-inspired villa had been built at the heart of a tree-lined residential compound in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province that is reportedly popular with well-off entrepreneurs and Communist Party cadres.
However, in late March a local television station paid the more than four million square foot compound a visit, following complaints about rampant illegal construction.
Locals told the Today Focus programme they had been powerless to act as cash-flush buyers snapped up homes on the once-tranquil estate only to demolish them immediately and erect sprawling and, in some cases, bizarre eyesores in their place.
Of the compound's 599 households, 196 had engaged in some form of illegal construction, the Zhejiang Daily reported on its Weibo microblog on Wednesday.
"It is useless. [The enforcement team] came, took a look and then drove away," one of the estate's administrators admitted. "If the owners didn't have connections, they wouldn't dare build these illegal constructions would they?" "Of course we have complaints but what can we do?" asked one female resident.
Aerial images of the compound revealed a series of luxurious and eye-catching mansions had been inflicted on the area's landscape. But none stood out more than a two-floor lakeside imitation of the White House, which has been the presidential home since John Adams and his wife Abigail moved there in November 1800.
Construction on the White House of Shaoxing appears to have started last year, more than two centuries after work began on its American inspiration in 1792.
However, unlike Barack Obama's current home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, its Zhejiang equivalent appears to have lacked the relevant approvals.
Demolition crews were ordered in this week after Today Focus broadcast its expose on the illegal mansion. Government workers, armed with sledgehammers, reduced Shaoxing's answer to James Hoban's Washington DC icon to a heap of rubble.
Photographs of the wrecked building distributed on Wednesday by Chinese state media showed a place which now closer resembled Haiti's National Palace, destroyed by the 2010 earthquake.
Construction on the White House of Shaoxing appears to have started last year, more than two centuries after work began on its American inspiration in 1792
Source : by Tom Phillips, Shanghai
A wealthy Chinese homeowner has seen his own personal White House reduced to a pile of rubble after authorities decided the lavish construction had violated planning regulations.
The White House-inspired villa had been built at the heart of a tree-lined residential compound in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province that is reportedly popular with well-off entrepreneurs and Communist Party cadres.
However, in late March a local television station paid the more than four million square foot compound a visit, following complaints about rampant illegal construction.
Locals told the Today Focus programme they had been powerless to act as cash-flush buyers snapped up homes on the once-tranquil estate only to demolish them immediately and erect sprawling and, in some cases, bizarre eyesores in their place.
Of the compound's 599 households, 196 had engaged in some form of illegal construction, the Zhejiang Daily reported on its Weibo microblog on Wednesday.
"It is useless. [The enforcement team] came, took a look and then drove away," one of the estate's administrators admitted. "If the owners didn't have connections, they wouldn't dare build these illegal constructions would they?" "Of course we have complaints but what can we do?" asked one female resident.
Aerial images of the compound revealed a series of luxurious and eye-catching mansions had been inflicted on the area's landscape. But none stood out more than a two-floor lakeside imitation of the White House, which has been the presidential home since John Adams and his wife Abigail moved there in November 1800.
Construction on the White House of Shaoxing appears to have started last year, more than two centuries after work began on its American inspiration in 1792.
However, unlike Barack Obama's current home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, its Zhejiang equivalent appears to have lacked the relevant approvals.
Demolition crews were ordered in this week after Today Focus broadcast its expose on the illegal mansion. Government workers, armed with sledgehammers, reduced Shaoxing's answer to James Hoban's Washington DC icon to a heap of rubble.
Photographs of the wrecked building distributed on Wednesday by Chinese state media showed a place which now closer resembled Haiti's National Palace, destroyed by the 2010 earthquake.
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