Court withdraws auction of "Porcelain House" amid controversy

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A court in east China's port city of Tianjin has recalled an auction of a landmark property originally scheduled on Tuesday, due to controversies over its evaluation and suspected illegal transformation of historical property.

It is the third time the five-story construction has gone to auction and then been withdrawn, after its owner became involved in a debt dispute, with his two properties being sealed by a local court.

The house, known as "China House" or "Porcelain House", has been opened to the public as a non-governmental museum since 2007. Its name rings true with its design, as nearly every inch of the house, including the outer walls, roofs, window frames, interior decorations and even part of the floors are covered with porcelain collage.

Porcelain vases, statue inlaid on the wall of the "Porcelain House". /VCG Photo

According to its owner Zhang Lianzhi, a businessman and collector, it took him about ten years to furnish the house to its current state. Zhang claimed that there are over 700 million ancient porcelain pieces, 13,000 ancient vases and bowls, and at least 500 porcelain cat-shaped pillows, 300 porcelain lions and 300 Buddha statues, plus 12 human statues used to complete the decoration work.

Despite a mixed reception over its unique design, the house has become a must-see for many tourists to Tianjin. It was elected by the US Huffington Post as one of the world's 15 most stunning museums in 2010, and authorized by the local tourist board as a AAA-ranking tourist attraction.

Context of the controversies over the "Porcelain House"

Porcelain vases inlaid on wall of the "Porcelain House". /VCG Photo

The house first courted controversy due to its starting price in the auction. The court announced in July 2017 that the starting price would be 140 million yuan (20.8 million US dollars). However, according to Zhang Lianzhi, the house is valued at 9.8 billion yuan (1.39 billion US dollars).

Zhang's price includes all the porcelain contained within the decoration of the house; however, the court's evaluation was only for the market price of the property itself, excluding its decorations.

Meanwhile, Zhang's extensive decorations are suspected to have violated the local regulation of historical sites' protection.

Porcelain statues inlaid on the wall of the "Porcelain House". /VCG Photo

The French-style house was the former residence of Huang Rongliang, a statesman and diplomat in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) and the Republic of China period (1911-1949). It has been listed as protected architecture since 2005.

According to a regulation that took effect in 2005, no alteration is allowed on either "the outlook, decoration materials and colors outside the historical sites," or its "interior structures and decorations."

After the auction was withdrawn on Sunday, Lu Fuhao, director of the research office of the Tianjin court, said that the reason for the withdrawal was that Zhang's transformation of the structure was suspected to have violated local regulations.

140 million or 9.8 billion? Mystery over house under auction in Tianjin

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