Elaborate temple is China's newest bizarre rooftop structure

In the latest case of illegal rooftop constructions making the news in China, a Shenzhen homeowner has built an elaborate temple on top of a high-rise apartment building.

According to reports, the temple was surrounded by shrubbery and had ornate dragon and phoenix sculptures carved in its exterior. It was blocked off from general access by a door with a fingerprint combination lock.

Neighbours were unsure who the owner of the property was, but said that the temple was often occupied and used for traditional Chinese religious practices. Whether those practices included the worship of deities or deceased family members was unknown - although neighbours did say that golden sheets of joss paper, which is burned to honour ancestors and sometimes called “ghost money”, occasionally floated down from the temple’s perch.

“There’s often falling ash and a burning smell [coming from the temple],” one neighbour said. “We’ve never been up there, but it’s a private space. Its been there for several years."

Interviews with Meijia Square security confirmed the structure had been on the building’s roof at least since 2010, and a real estate agent interviewed by Yangcheng Evening News ventured that the temple was probably illegal.

“Erecting a simple structure usually isn’t a problem,” the unnamed agent said. “But one certainly cannot build an entire temple on a rooftop. It’s an illegal construction, and the homeowner probably has some connections.”