€88m museum closed down over fake exhibits

Chinese authorities have closed a museum which contained scores of fake exhibits, including a vase decorated with cartoon characters billed as a Qing dynasty artefact, state-run media reported.

The facility, built in northern China’s Hebei province at a cost of €70m, has “no qualification to be a museum as its collections are fake”, a local official told the Global Times newspaper.

It had been closed, the paper said, while its founders have been placed “under investigation” after local residents accused them of wasting money.