Jackie Chan's planned donation questioned

A Chinese expert in cultural relics has slammed actor Jackie Chan's announcement that he will send several ancient houses he owns to a Singapore university.

Li Yongge, director of building restorations at the Palace Museum in Beijing, said China does not permit the export of historical relics, so Chan cannot donate the buildings in East China's Anhui province, he told People's Daily.

Chan wrote on his micro blog on April 4 that he had bought 10 ancient wooden buildings in Anhui 20 years ago for his parents. The buildings were destroyed by termites after their death, he said.

Chan said he will donate four of the 10 buildings to Singapore University of Technology and Design, where a site has been reserved for the structures.

Chan had planned to donate the buildings to Hong Kong a decade ago, but the government of the special administrative region could not find any land for them, he said.

Li said the hot and humid climate in Singapore is not fit for the preservation of wooden houses.