CHINA, INTERNATIONAL, BUSINESS, NEWS, Psst! Want to Buy a Piece of the Moon…Cheap?
By Li Jiajia
If land on the moon was priced at less than 8 dollars (U.S.) per 1000 square kilometers, would you to buy it?
This question is now being put before people who live in the Chaoyang district in Beijing.
In recent days, a "Great China Lunar Embassy" was set up in a building near the Anzhen Bridge in the Chaoyang District. This 'embassy' is said to mainly deal with businesses concerning outer space travel and moon exploration, an important part of which is the sale of real estate on the moon.
Isn't it still too abstract to talk about the ownership of land on the moon? Li Jie, the CEO of the 'embassy' told our journalists that considering the current scientific conditions, it is indeed too early for common people to truly own such land, but according to the "Certification of the Ownership for Land on the Moon," all of the land sold is marked out by the latitude and longitude. This, Li said, is not abstract at all.
About the price of the land, the 'embassy' gives out detailed information: the land is 19.9 dollars (U.S.) per acre, together with 1.5 dollars of tax and 10 dollars of commission charge--31.5 dollars will purchase about 4000 square meters of land on the moon. Owing to its cheapness, "They can be given to friends or other family members as a special present," said Li Jie.
A Mr. Chen agrees with Li, "200 Yuan for a certification is just for fun--if my girlfriend wants the moon in the sky, I can give it to her to show my love."
However, even if it is very cheap, there are still people who don't want to get into this business. A Mr. Wang said that no matter how beautiful the prospects seem to be, he would "never spend a single penny on this ridiculous thing and make a fool of myself."
When our journalist visited the "Great China Lunar Embassy," workers in the company were busy with their advertising and a lot of people were filling out forms. Mr. Jiang, one of the managers told us that their company had just gotten the license on September 11 and was busy recruiting workers. The company will probably start its business at the end of this month.
"A lot of people came to seek employment in this business, and also a lot came for consultation," a guard of the building told us, although he is also not very clear about what the company is actually doing. One of the workers who had just joined the company pointed out that people cannot yet land on the moon under current conditions, but "it is still possible that in the near future we may be able to live on the moon and make use of these lands, and that's why many people such as me choose to work here."
However, people will ask, what entitles the 'embassy' to sell land on the moon? According to the information on its official website, the "Great China Lunar Embassy" is one of the subsidiary companies of the "American Lunar Embassy." Denise Hop, its original founder and present executive manager claimed that his company is the only legal owner of land on the moon as well as the other eight planets except the earth, because he "has already signed an agreement for the ownership of land on the moon with the United States and Soviet Union twenty five years ago."
Our investigation shows that this agreement, named "Treaty on Outer Space," was co-drafted by the United States and the Soviet Union during the period of the arms race in the Cold War era and was agreed upon by all members of the United Nations.
Based on the information in the second chapter of the treaty, which says that the moon doesn't belong to any single country, Denise concluded that personal ownership is reasonable and legal. As for the registration of the "Great China Lunar Embassy," Li Jie claimed that since there is still no law regarding the sale of land on the moon, and that his company doesn't belong to the category that is forbidden by law, there is no problem with its validity. Li was so confident about the prospects of his career that he estimated he would sell at least 300,000 acres per year.
For all the declarations of the validity of the company, there are still doubts from many legal experts. Zhang Yanping, a professor in the chronometer department of Beijing Normal University thinks that land on the moon is a public resource. Although there is no law regulating the ownership of moon property at present, any single person still cannot trade it as he likes.
However, up to now, more than 3,000,000 people worldwide have bought land on the moon from this company, including many Hollywood stars and two ex-presidents of the United States: Ronald Regan and Jimmy Carter.
If land on the moon was priced at less than 8 dollars (U.S.) per 1000 square kilometers, would you to buy it?
This question is now being put before people who live in the Chaoyang district in Beijing.
In recent days, a "Great China Lunar Embassy" was set up in a building near the Anzhen Bridge in the Chaoyang District. This 'embassy' is said to mainly deal with businesses concerning outer space travel and moon exploration, an important part of which is the sale of real estate on the moon.
Isn't it still too abstract to talk about the ownership of land on the moon? Li Jie, the CEO of the 'embassy' told our journalists that considering the current scientific conditions, it is indeed too early for common people to truly own such land, but according to the "Certification of the Ownership for Land on the Moon," all of the land sold is marked out by the latitude and longitude. This, Li said, is not abstract at all.
About the price of the land, the 'embassy' gives out detailed information: the land is 19.9 dollars (U.S.) per acre, together with 1.5 dollars of tax and 10 dollars of commission charge--31.5 dollars will purchase about 4000 square meters of land on the moon. Owing to its cheapness, "They can be given to friends or other family members as a special present," said Li Jie.
A Mr. Chen agrees with Li, "200 Yuan for a certification is just for fun--if my girlfriend wants the moon in the sky, I can give it to her to show my love."
However, even if it is very cheap, there are still people who don't want to get into this business. A Mr. Wang said that no matter how beautiful the prospects seem to be, he would "never spend a single penny on this ridiculous thing and make a fool of myself."
When our journalist visited the "Great China Lunar Embassy," workers in the company were busy with their advertising and a lot of people were filling out forms. Mr. Jiang, one of the managers told us that their company had just gotten the license on September 11 and was busy recruiting workers. The company will probably start its business at the end of this month.
"A lot of people came to seek employment in this business, and also a lot came for consultation," a guard of the building told us, although he is also not very clear about what the company is actually doing. One of the workers who had just joined the company pointed out that people cannot yet land on the moon under current conditions, but "it is still possible that in the near future we may be able to live on the moon and make use of these lands, and that's why many people such as me choose to work here."
However, people will ask, what entitles the 'embassy' to sell land on the moon? According to the information on its official website, the "Great China Lunar Embassy" is one of the subsidiary companies of the "American Lunar Embassy." Denise Hop, its original founder and present executive manager claimed that his company is the only legal owner of land on the moon as well as the other eight planets except the earth, because he "has already signed an agreement for the ownership of land on the moon with the United States and Soviet Union twenty five years ago."
Our investigation shows that this agreement, named "Treaty on Outer Space," was co-drafted by the United States and the Soviet Union during the period of the arms race in the Cold War era and was agreed upon by all members of the United Nations.
Based on the information in the second chapter of the treaty, which says that the moon doesn't belong to any single country, Denise concluded that personal ownership is reasonable and legal. As for the registration of the "Great China Lunar Embassy," Li Jie claimed that since there is still no law regarding the sale of land on the moon, and that his company doesn't belong to the category that is forbidden by law, there is no problem with its validity. Li was so confident about the prospects of his career that he estimated he would sell at least 300,000 acres per year.
For all the declarations of the validity of the company, there are still doubts from many legal experts. Zhang Yanping, a professor in the chronometer department of Beijing Normal University thinks that land on the moon is a public resource. Although there is no law regulating the ownership of moon property at present, any single person still cannot trade it as he likes.
However, up to now, more than 3,000,000 people worldwide have bought land on the moon from this company, including many Hollywood stars and two ex-presidents of the United States: Ronald Regan and Jimmy Carter.
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