If Wang ever discovers wayward buses driving past his front door, he shouldn't be surprised. The door of the Wutun villager's home in the Fangshan District is fashioned from several bus direction signs.

According to Wang's wife, they bought the door for 60 yuan (US$7.20) at the Liangxiang second-hand goods market. A reporter from Beijing Times found similar doors and window frames made from bus direction signs at the market on Tuesday.

Xi, a stallholder at the market, said the signs had been bought at the scrap-steel price of 1.6 yuan (19 US cents) per kilogram.

But when the reporter pressed him for the source of the signs, Xi dodged the question. "It doesn't matter how you get them," he added.

A manager with the Municipal Public Transportation Company confirmed the frequent loss of bus direction signs, especially in areas between towns and villages.

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