Compiled by MARTIN CARVALHO and C. ARUNO
ONCE dubbed the “biggest abandoned traditional Chinese architecture project”, an unfinished building in China’s Guizhou province is now a luxury hotel and is fully booked for the coming National Day holiday, China Press reported.
Known as the Shuisi Lou, which means “water division building” in Chinese, it was supposed to be built using traditional techniques that uses no nails.
The Dushan county government was said to have taken loans close to 200 million yuan (RM118mil) to build the cultural landmark. But construction work stopped when funding ran dry in 2017.
A state-owned enterprise took over the project in 2020 and converted it into a luxury hotel, which officially opened in May this year.
It offers 12 types of rooms, with its executive suites priced at 2,321 yuan (RM1,373) a night.
According to hotel staff, the average occupancy is around 60%, but the hotel is fully booked for the National Day holiday, which begins on Oct 1.
> A man claimed that he was blackmailed and asked to pay RM20,000 after he was caught taking photos of a woman showering at a temple, China Press reported.
Identified only by his surname, Zhou, he had taken part in an event at the temple in Johor during the Hungry Ghost festival last month.
Zhou, 22, admitted that he followed a woman to a washroom and took photos of her while she was showering.
He fled when the woman screamed after noticing what Zhou was up to. The woman then made a police report on Sept 3.
Zhou, who was remanded for four days, was subsequently told by the police he would be charged later.
However, the drama did not end there.
The temple committee, which reviewed CCTV footage, contacted Zhou, saying that its patron deity wanted to meet with him.
Zhou claimed that the deity chided him and requested that he sign an agreement to pay RM20,000 as compensation to the woman.
“I was surrounded by 15 people. As I was terrified, I signed the agreement that I will pay the RM20,000 in monthly instalments of RM1,000,” he told a press conference.
Zhou also said that he was sorry and regretted his actions.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a, it denotes a separate news item.
