An Eccentric Beijing doctor built an immaculate garden villa on top of his penthouse’s rooftop-illegally. Urban management of Beijing issued an ultimatum to the former government advisor that demanded that he tear down the large and looming mega-structure that he had built over the past six years on top of his top floor apartment. According to the South China Morning Post, “the rooftop house features elaborate fake rocks, real trees and grass” and it covers the entire top of the building. The look of the garden villa is that grasses, flowers, and trees seem to almost be spilling over the edge of the building. All of that sits on his penthouse.
Building residents have complained for years but with no effect. Locals have identified the owner, as “doctor of traditional chinese medicine and former member of a district People’s Political Consultative Conference,” a Mr. Zhang Biqing, who owns a national chain of acupuncture clinics. The residents complain of noise, machinery, water leakage, constant construction sounds, and they worry about actual structural damage to the entire building. Neighbors who lived in the high-end residential neighborhood called ‘Park View’ in the Haidan district of Beijing, claim to have suffered harassment and threats from the owner although police have not intervened.
The rooftop garden villa is an illegal construction, and the ultimatum of forcible demolition has been given, if the owner doesn’t dismantle the rooftop villa himself. Mr. Zhang, who also identifies himself as a professor, commented, “since I dare to live here, I am not worried about complaints.”
