
“At the farthest end of the Great Wall, Yang Yongfu limps along the section he arduously restored, in effect ‘privatising’ it and putting himself on a collision course with the authorities. The farmer spent five million yuan ($800,000) and years of backbreaking work renovating several hundred metres of the national symbol deep in northwestern China, turning it into a tourist site. He set up an entrance area for tourists, complete with a car park and fishpond, and his wife Tao Huiping collects the 25 yuan admittance fee at the ticket booth — a table in the open air. A 2006 law gave the government the exclusive right to manage national relics — making Yang’s project illegal.”
Related posts:
Dem Rep. Steve Cohen: Tea Party Republicans Are 'Domestic Enemies'
Iowa Farms Minting Millionaires as Rich-Poor Gap Widens
Shanghai Fund Manager Dumps All Holdings in ‘Insane’ Market
European Union wins Nobel Peace Prize
Almost Half of Wealthy Chinese Want to Leave, Study Shows
Bitcoin Believers See a Role for Wall Street
Pay Me in Bitcoin, IT Professionals Say -- Survey
Illinois medical marijuana bill to be signed Thursday
Too much gold around the house? Store it at Texas' new precious metals depository
Study: Wind blew deadly gas to U.S. troops in Gulf War
China bans major shareholders from selling for next six months
Bank of England helped the Nazis to sell plundered gold
Did anyone read the latest spending bill?
Hedge funds selling gold 'in a big way'
4 police officers arrested for performing rectal searches