Billboard Removal to Beautify City, Peking Says
Advertising billboards are being removed from Peking’s main thoroughfare to beautify the city, not for political or economic reasons, a city official said Friday.
Wang Chang Zai, deputy director of the Industrial and Commercial Administration, told reporters about 50 billboards would be removed along Changan Avenue “to make it more beautiful.”
The decision follows student demonstrations against Japanese imports and Japan’s trade surplus with China.
Wang said he called the news conference to correct “conjectures” about the removal of the signs, apparently referring to foreign news reports that linked the decision to the anti-Japanese sentiment.
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