Buildings torn down inside protected area

Started in early 2015, the project has left the mountain "thickly dotted by buildings" and "closely wrapped up by steel bars and cement". With the mountain's function in the local ecosystem essentially lost, it has been changed into a "concrete mountain", the team said as it concluded a monthlong inspection on Thursday.

The developer hardened not only forest, grass and farmland with cement, but also ditches and creeks, it added.

In total, 1,107 buildings have been built on the mountain, including 813 villas, although not all of them are located in the type of protected area that prohibits real estate development.

The inspection, launched in 2016, is staffed by officials from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Its teams are usually led by retired ministry-level officials. The inspectors report to a central leading group headed by Vice-Premier Han Zheng, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.