Oh la la! Chinese state factory decked out to look like the Palace of Versailles (much to the disgust of neighbours)


It looks more like a view of a luxurious palace for one of the world's richest leaders - but this is actually the interior of an office building.Even more surprising is that the block is in China, a country more known for its minimalist, functional approach.
Harbin Pharmaceutical Group appears to have modelled its factory in Harbin, in the northeast of Heilongjiang province, on the Palace of Versailles.

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The building contains three floors of offices and three more floors of a print museum belonging to the state-owned pharmaceutical firm The state-owned drug firm has caused outrage with the lavish decoration, which includes gold-tinted walls and chandeliers.
Citizens living near the building have reacted with anger to the pictures, insisting the money should have been spent on sorting out the factory's sewage problems.
It is the latest in a series of rows to hit the company this summer.
One of its bottled water products was found to contain the carcinogenic chemical bromate in August, according to Want China Times.
And back in June, it was exposed for the illegal discharge of wastewater, waste gas and industrial waste, chinawhisper.com said.


One room in the factory appears to be set up for a board meeting but it looks more like the inside of a 19th century palace, with lavish decoration, an ornate chandelier and heavily decorated wallsIt said at the time that the company did not have the money available to move out of the factory and solve the problem.
Of the photographs, a Harbin Pharmaceutical suggested to the website that they had been circulated as part of a 'smear campaign'.
He said the images shown were actually of the museum, which takes up three floors of the same building and is run by the company to showcase local art.
The firm's annual report for 2010 showed that it spent 19.6million yuan (£1.9m) on environmental protection but 27 times more on advertising.


The Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles near Paris, which is startlingly similar to the Harbin factory
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