Nanjing's four golf courses are enough, says a city legislator, who has filed a motion to halt work on building a further five.
But Shen Chun is putting uphill into a stiff breeze: this year alone, the mainland's golf courses are expected to double to 400.
Mr Shen tabled his motion at a meeting of the Nanjing People's Congress on Sunday. He claims that golf courses occupy too much land.
An 18-hole golf course usually covers 80 hectares and costs as much as 300 million yuan to build; the largest of Nanjing's five unfinished courses is 538 hectares.
Golf courses have been criticised for their huge water consumption and for polluting the water table through the pesticides needed to keep a course green.
The legislator also says the city in Jiangsu province, with a 5.4 million population, does not have enough golfers to use nine courses. The annual disposable income of Nanjing's urban residents was 9,154 yuan in 2002, yet Nanjing Harvard Golf club charges 250,000 yuan for a lifetime membership. Playing fees are not included.
