Chill-ax: With nowhere else to live, Mr Hsu took a calculated risk and created the icefall (Picture: CEN)

It’s quite an extreme way to win a war with property developers who want to build a shopping centre, but you have to admire this flat owner’s ice-cold nerve.

After Wen Hsu was offered what he saw as a derisory amount of money to move out, he had a brainwave.

With cold weather approaching and a desperate need for publicity he simply opened a window, turned on the taps – and left them on all winter.

Ninth wonder: How it looks to passers-by (Picture: CEN)

The other residents had moved out so the 58-year-old’s homemade waterfall was harming no-one. His ploy worked, drawing attention to his case in China’s national media and council officials are now urging the developers to settle the matter so the project can go ahead.




‘The weather is warmer now but I think it might take a while for the waterfall to melt,’ said Mr Hsu who has lived on the seventh floor of the property at Jilin city in north-eastern China for 35 years.

‘In any case, I understand the developers may be prepared to make me a better offer now, I hope so. It is very lonely here with nobody else around.’