A Very Old Tower's Much Newer Roof Collapses, Raising Questions in China

New York Times

22-05-2025

The reconstructed roof of a 14th-century tower in eastern China partially collapsed in dramatic fashion this week, leading to an investigation and questions about whether the structure's modern renovations had been substandard or even illegal.
Videos shared online showed tiles cascading off the roof of the Drum Tower in Fengyang County on Monday as dozens of people were gathered in an open plaza below. A large cloud of dust swelled around the building as the onlookers scattered.
No injuries were reported, according to the Fengyang government. It said the cause of the collapse was under investigation.
The tower has been designated a key cultural relic by Anhui Province, which includes Fengyang County. Its base, reportedly the largest of any drum tower in China, dates to 1375, during the Ming dynasty. Drum towers, often found in the center of Chinese cities, were historically used to help communities keep time.
But the building atop the base in Fengyang, which has curved eaves layered with tiles, was built only in 1995, the original having been destroyed in the 19th century. It was renovated last year, specifically to fix the problem of falling roof tiles, the Fengyang government said after the collapse.
That spurred questions online about the quality of the renovation, which cost about 3 million yuan, or nearly $420,000, and whether public funds had been misused. Ten years ago, the company that handled the tower project was renovating an ancestral hall in Anhui when a fire broke out that destroyed part of the building, according to state media reports.
Adding to the concerns about the structure, CCTV, China's state broadcaster, said this week that the entire recreated building atop the base had been built illegally in the 1990s, calling it a 'fake antique' that had not been approved by officials who oversee cultural heritage sites.
CCTV did not explain why there had been no earlier scrutiny of the building. Many historical sites across China have been renovated in recent decades as cultural tourism has exploded in popularity.
Slipshod construction has been a long-running problem in China, especially during the early years of the economic boom that began four decades ago. Poorly built school buildings contributed to the deaths of as many as 10,000 students in a 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province. Oversight has improved, but construction accidents are still a sensitive and sometimes deadly issue.
A Ming dynasty gate, also in Fengyang County, collapsed during a construction project in 2007. Investigators at the time determined that unauthorized construction and quality issues may have played a role, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
According to the Fengyang government's statement, tiles began falling off the drum tower's roof in 2017. In 2023, the government launched a public bidding process for renovations. The winning company, Huangshan Huizhou Zhongya Construction, started the work in September 2023 and finished in March of last year.
Just nine months later, in December, officials noticed cracks on top of the building, the head of Fengyang's culture and tourism bureau, Lu Deyong, said in an interview with China National Radio. But they determined that the roof tiles, in general, were secure, Mr. Lu said.
He defended the cost of the renovation, which he said included repairing tiles and railings and adding layers of cement mortar. 'As for whether it's a problem of project quality, that requires expert verification,' Mr. Lu said.
Asked about CCTV's report that the 1995 reconstruction was unauthorized, Mr. Lu told the Beijing News, an outlet controlled by China's ruling Communist Party, that the project had been approved. Attempts to reach the culture and tourism bureau for comment were unsuccessful.