Two illegal golf courses in NE China reported

CHANGCHUN, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Two illegal golf courses and 93 villas have been reported in Changbai Mountain international ski center in northeast China's Jilin Province, an environmental inspection team said Wednesday.

The golf courses and villas are all within the Changbai Mountain international holiday resort in Fusong County at the foot of Changbai Mountain.

Illegal projects were first found in 2011 when China started to outlaw golf courses to clamp down on illegal land and water use.

However, the illegal golf courses continued their operations, according to the inspection team from the central government.

Since 2011, China has launched a national crackdown on golf courses which were found to be illegally using a large amount of arable land or nature reserve areas.

China imposed a ban on the construction of new golf courses in 2004, when there were fewer than 200 golf courses in the country, to protect land and water resources. However, the number of golf courses continued to rise as the sport gained popularity, especially in business and official circles. Enditem