Chinese Pensioner Spends Five Years Building £670,000 PORCELAIN Palace

A Chinese pensioner spent five years - and more than £670,000 - overseeing the building of a stunning porcelain museum.

After working in the porcelain trade for most of her life, Yu Ermei, 86, hopes that that the museum will bring a new wave of tourists to her hometown of Xinping Village in Jingdezhen, a city in East China’s Jiangxi Province.

Yu had amassed a large collection of china over the years, and decided to spend 6 million yuan (£670,250) of her own cash on building what she now calls her ‘Porcelain Palace’.

Labour of love: Work began on the project in 2011 (CEN)

Beautiful view: The museum overlooks rice paddies and rolling hills (CEN)

Slow burn: Yu first came up with the museum idea in her fifties (CEN)

No expense spared: Yu spent £670,250 making her dream a reality (CEN)

Despite having no degree in architecture or design, Yu drew up the plans for the entire cylindrical complex herself, later hiring workers to bring her dream to life.

The project started in 2011, and has only recently been unveiled on a hilltop, where it overlooks rolling hills and rice paddies.

Yu’s porcelain factory is also based in Jiangxi, known as the porcelain capital of China, where she grew up and first started learning the art of pottery at the age of 12.

Life-long love: Yu was 12 when she first became interested in pottery (CEN)

Local: The Museum is in Yu’s native Xinping Village, Jingdezhen (CEN)

All welcome: Tourists are invited to visit The Porcelain Palace (CEN)

She has since exported her products to Russia and Thailand, and has amassed a personal collection of more than 6,000 porcelain wares.

The Porcelain Palace provides a perfect place to display her numerous sets of china, and it is also open to members of the public.

Gone global: Yu’s products sell in Russia and Thailand (CEN)

Porcelain addict: Yu has more than 6,000 pieces in her collection (CEN)

Yu said she first came up with the idea of building a porcelain museum in her fifties, but was only able to implement her plan in her eighties, even spending four Chinese New Years in a row at the construction site.

Now that she has left one museum as part of her legacy, she is planning on building several more, with one already under construction nearby.