Porcelain house to go under auction

A landmark property heavily decorated with pieces of porcelain in central Tianjin will be put up for auction on Tuesday after its owner defaulted on loan payments.

Zhang Lianzhi purchased the French-style villa, a diplomatic residence in the 1920s and '30s, in 2002 and spent a decade transforming it using tons of multicolored porcelain shards.

Since 2007, he has operated the property as a private museum called China House, which receives more than 4,000 visitors a day, according to his office.