Plants seen on apartment roof where illegal villa once stood

One-meter-tall bushes are seen atop a 26-story building in downtown Beijing on April 22, 2015. The building came into the spotlight two years ago, when it was discovered that a luxury illegal villa was built on its roof by a top-floor resident. Zhang Biqing, the man who had the villa built, tore it down when confronted by local law enforcement. [Photo: people.cn]

One-meter-tall bushes have recently been seen atop a 26-story building in Beijing, China, that was the site of an illegal rooftop villa that was demolished in 2013, sina.com.cn reported on Thursday.

Property management staff at the Park View residential community, where the building is located, said they have no right to stop residents carrying bushes into the building and they knew nothing about what happened on the roof.

Zhang Biqing, the owner of the duplex penthouse at the top floor of the building, which gives him access to the structure's roof, has refused calls from his neighbors to remove the plants.

Many residents living in the neighborhood said they don't walk near the building, adding that they're afraid something will fall down from the roof.

Zhang told sina.com.cn that he planted the bushes on the roof to offer protection, but did not specify what the bushes were meant to protect.

Zhang's illegal rooftop villa was exposed by the media in 2013, six years after it was built. In response to the demand of the urban management bureau of Haidian District, where the building is located, Zhang dismantle the 800-square-meter illegal structure.

The wealthy Chinese medicine practitioner said building and demolishing the rooftop villa cost him six million yuan.