Grave concerns for Chinese building

A grave disrupts work on a huge building site after a family refused to have it moved.

Builders have had to leave a 33ft mound with the burial plot and headstone on top as the foundations are dug out around it at the site in China.

Rest in peace? Building work carries on around the 33ft mound which has burial plot and the headstone on top. Pic/AFP

The 2004 grave is already surrounded by new high-rise residential buildings while the dispute rumbles on in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

The case echoes the dispute in Wenling, Zhejiang province, where a couple's house was in the way of a new road.

Planners wanted it demolished so they could build an access road to a new railway station but the family put up a fight before eventually moving.

Property owners in China who refuse to move to make way for development are known as ‘Nail Householders'.

That refers to a nail that is not easy to remove from a piece of old wood and cannot be pulled out with a hammer.