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Restorers of damaged historic mansion find tiles that are almost a perfect match

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A makeover on the historic Mid-Levels mansion King Yin Lei on Stubbs Road began last week after a restoration expert procured tiles from a factory in Foshan similar to those torn off the building.

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Experts said the new tiles were about a 90 per cent match to the originals but were darker in colour.

Government sources said all required building materials could be reproduced eventually.

'The new tiles are close to the original look, but not exactly the same,' said Tang Guohua of Guangzhou University's school of architecture and urban planning. 'The colour is darker because factories no longer use firewood to fire tile kilns.'

Professor Tang said tile-kiln temperatures were now higher because of the fuels used to fire them, resulting in darker-coloured tiles that were more durable.

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He monitored restoration work on the building on Thursday and issued instructions to workers installing the tiles on the roof after the first batch of reproduced tiles arrived from Foshan.

The restoration would require 50,000 new tiles of various types, according to a Development Bureau spokeswoman.

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