Some fancy and luxurious government buildings built by county-level officials are becoming a common site in some townships and even rural villages, according to a report.
The township government of Huazhou in Guangdong Province looks like the Forbidden City in Beijing. |
Some township buildings in Guangdong Province "could measure up to the standards of the White House and the Forbidden City," according to Guangzhou-based Southern Farmers' Daily.
Qigong township built a new 6 million yuan ($914,000) government building on a 4,265 square meter site in the mountains.
The building is similar to, but smaller than the White House, the report said.
The report said that in the towns of Huaixiang and Hejiang, extravagant government buildings included a smaller "Forbidden City" and a "Xinhua Gate."
The poor village of Shaping in Zhashui county, Shaanxi Province, borrowed 1.2 million yuan ($183,000) to build a village committee building, according to the report of Chinese Business View. The building caused an uproar among villagers.
Following reports about luxurious local government buildings in recent years, the central government has tightened the rules about such buildings and offices.
For example, the chief official of a county-level office may only occupy a 20 square meter office or less and a government worker less than 6 square meters.