October 04, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 04, 1429

BEIJING, Oct 3: Mao Zedong’s personal aeroplane has been put up for sale by the owner of a shopping centre in southern China to make space for parking.

The jet is one of the three that the Chinese air force bought from Pakistan in 1969, according to a report by the Southern Metropolis Daily, a Chinese newspaper.

Wang Zhilei, general manager of property developer Ridong Group in Zhuhai, a city in southern Guangdong province, confirmed the company had put the 46-metre-long plane up for sale.

“There are not enough parking spaces, so we decided to sell the plane,” Wang said. But he would not comment on prospective buyers or on the price of the plane, and referred to the news report.

Of the three planes bought from Pakistan, one was given to Mao, the founder of modern China, the other was given to Lin Biao, Mao’s heir apparent, and the third was reserved for the military.

But Lin’s plane crashed in neighbouring Mongolia when he fled from China in 1971 after a failed coup to oust Mao.

The two remaining planes stayed in service until 1986, at which time Mao’s personal plane was put on display in an airport in Beijing’s suburbs until it was bought by Ridong Group.—AFP