"Lunar lunatic comes to China to sell the moon" is one local newspaper's headline for a story about Dennis M. Hope, "Head Cheese of the Lunar Embassy," as is printed on his business card.

Despite doubts about its legal legitimacy, Hope and his Chinese business partner Li Jie, who has been designated ambassador of the Lunar Embassy to China, held a press conference launching the company's business in China on October 19.

The American businessman answered hundreds of questions from legions of suspicious Chinese journalists during his five-day stay in Beijing.

"Most people who find out what I do, think I'm a little crazy," he said. "It's only because it is so new to China. But we've been doing it for 25 years.

"We had fun, but it is pretty serious, because we are selling real property."

Hope explained, through a Chinese interpreter, to the local media how in 1980 he filed a declaration of ownership to the UN, the US and former USSR governments, for the moon and other planets. None denied his ownership of the moon.

The theory is that, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 explicitly forbids any government from claiming a celestial resource such as the Moon or a planet. Therefore the moon is an un-owned land. Because there is no law stipulating the ownership of the moon, and no government objects to it, Hope, being the first to declare ownership of the moon's land, believes he owns the moon.

The same applied to other planets apart from the Earth and the Sun.

"I did that as a sort of rebellion," he said. "I was a teenager in the 1960s, when everybody was rebelling. It was sort of my way of continuing that."

Hope set up the Galactic Government in 2001, to answer some people's call to protect their land on the moon. In March last year, he sent 215 letters to different governments, "asking them to open doors for diplomacy."

"Fifty seven have so far responded, 30 of them told me to go away," he grinned. "27 of them, though, have opened the doors for diplomacy to start."

But Hope said he could not say who they were because once he tells, "the doors of diplomacy could close."

The 57-year-old man from Nevada, USA, said he has had 96 careers in his life, which gave him "the pontificate."

"I shined shoes, I sold cars, and I was a ventriloquist," he said.

In 1980, he was going through a divorce and was at a career low.

"As I was driving, I looked out of the car window and saw the moon," he recalled. "I thought: 'That was a property!'"

Hope claimed that he sold 600 lots in the first two weeks. In the first 15 years, he sold 3,500 lots. After the business went on-line in 1996, he sold to 3.5 million property owners in 181 countries.

Hope claims that his clients include people such as George Bush and Tom Cruise.

"Since 1996, we've made 8.5 million dollars," he claimed.

Xiang Yang, lawyer at the Beijing Zhongfu Law Firm, believes Hope's moon property is not protected by law, as it is not recognized by any country.

"Although nobody denies Hope's ownership, he does not have a lawful property licence for the moon, nor has he reached the moon first and claimed ownership."

Xiang also thinks the selling of moon land is illegal because Hope does not actually own the land.

"But this cannot be taken as fraud because the buyer actually knows the uncertainty of property rights before buying. Therefore the contract is not protected by law," he revealed.

Hope knew that very well. That is why he made a point not to try to persuade people to buy the land from him. Instead, he just provides the information.

The most severe challenges he faced were in Germany, the UK and Sweden, where his representatives were sued for fraud. But the cases were soon thrown out of court.

Hope believes in 12 months the Chinese company would see a marked change in the Chinese moon market, although at the beginning it is going to be difficult. He believes the first thing his Chinese company needs to do is to educate people that not only can they own land, but they can also own land that is not on the Earth.

"I have to liken this to what I did in 1980. The first people I told that I sold property on the moon looked at me like I was nuts. But later they gave me the chance to explain how the process works. Then, all of a sudden, they became land owners," he said. "I think in China, the same thing will happen."

The United States plans to reach the moon again in 2008 with robots, 2015 with men, and then set up a permanent base on the moon by 2050. Hope said that he is offering 30,000 acres of land for the US Government to build on, with a lease of 400 years.

As to China's recent launches of manned spacecraft, Hope said that he can make the same proposal to China as he did the US.

"We are taking what many people think is a ridiculous business very seriously," said Li, Hope's representative in China.

Li, a 41-year-old former irrigation engineer and salesman, claimed that he spent US$250,000 to win the right of representation from Hope.

Li said that in only two days after the news was out, he had sold moon lots to 13 people, at a price of 298 yuan (US$37) an acre, slightly more expensive than the US$30 per acre as sold in the United States.

Are his customers convinced?

"I bought an acre for myself," said Han Tiannuan, a 32-year-old land agent based in Beijing. "I appreciate people like Hope, who have a clear idea and can pursue it for a long time.

"As to whether his business is legal or if the land is real, I have not taken it seriously," he observed. "It will be a subject for chat with my friends later. And who knows, with the rapid development of technology, maybe I can see my piece of land on the moon one day!"

(China Daily 10/27/2005 page3)