Jon Woo / Reuters

Villagers carry a gravestone of an ancestral tomb away from a construction site in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China on December 18, 2012.

AP

Workers lay the foundations for a residential complex around a solitary tomb site in Taiyuan on December 6, 2012.

A tomb which was left standing in the middle of a Chinese construction site began to be exhumed on Tuesday.

Helped by local villagers, family members relocated four coffins containing the remains of the deceased, Reuters reports.

For seven months a 33-foot mound of earth containing the tomb, the sole survivor from a cemetery that had previously occupied the site, had stood at the center of a building project in the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

Grave interruption: Building around a tomb in China

Some reports had called it a "nail grave" — a variant on the term "nail house", which describes those lone homes that stand in the way of development, like nails stuck in a board that can't be pounded down with a hammer.

'Nail house' holds up traffic as homeowners fight local government

According to local reports cited by Reuters, the family did not fulfill their agreement with village officers which had required them to move the tomb before December 15, saying instead that they were waiting for an auspicious date to perform the relocation. 

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Jon Woo / Reuters

Villagers stand around an ancestral tomb which is being relocated in Taiyuan on December 18, 2012.

Jon Woo / Reuters

Villagers carry coffins containing remains from an ancestral tomb in Taiyuan on December 18, 2012.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

A view of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, right, and downtown Shanghai seen through the haze on May 15, 2012.

Aly Song / Reuters

A young man wearing a mask walks along the Bund in Shanghai on May 15, 2012.

The U.S. Consulate in Shanghai began posting hourly air quality readings for the city this week, with data showing "very unhealthy" conditions at times on Tuesday afternoon.

The consulate's classification reflects U.S. pollution standards but operates on a different scale than the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, which called conditions "slightly polluted". 

Denied access to official data, Chinese citizens take their own pollution readings

A similar monitor on the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has long been seen as the most reliable source of information on air quality in the Chinese capital.

Bathed in smog: Beijing's pollution could cut 5 years off lifespan, expert says

Read more about the Shanghai monitor at the US Consulate's website and find the latest readings on their dedicated Twitter feed.

Reuters contributed to this report

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Reuters

Huang Sufang reacts as she sees a part of her house being taken down by demolition workers at Yangji village in central Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, China on March 21, 2012.

Huang Sufang, a resident of the Chinese city of Guangzhou, mounted a desperate last stand to protect her home as demolition workers moved in on Wednesday.

According to local media cited by Reuters, part of Huang's house was mistakenly demolished as workers were flattening another building nearby.

Hers was one of more than 1,000 homes in Yangji, a former village that has been swallowed up by the rapid expansion of Guangzhou, China's third-largest city with a population of over 12 million.

In 2010, China Daily reported that Yangji was one of 138 'urban villages' in Guangzhou earmarked for demolition to make way for new developments in the next decade.

Disputes over land rights are the leading cause of surging unrest across China, according to a study cited by Bloomberg News.

Reuters

Huang Sufang tries to attack a worker with a brick after a part of her house was demolished.

AFP - Getty Images

Huang Sufang attempting to protect her home as workers move in for demolition.

Reuters

A relative holds Huang Sufang as she wipes away tears.

AFP - Getty Images

Workers demolish a group of villagers' houses in Yangji village.

Reuters

Huang Sufang lies on the ground after a part of her house was demolished.

A once-sleepy village in the countryside of eastern China celebrated its 50th anniversary Saturday by unveiling an incongruous addition to its skyline: a skyscraper taller than the Chrysler Building.

The 74-story Longxi International Hotel towers 328 meters (1,076 feet) above the village of Huaxi and cost 3 billion yuan ($472 million) to build, according to the state-owned China Daily newspaper.

AFP - Getty Images

An aerial photo of the Longxi International Hotel, which stands at 328 meters high and cost $472 million to build, in Huaxi, which is still classified as a village, in east China's Jiangsu province on September 24.

"The building exudes wealth and excess," wrote The Guardian's Jonathan Watts, who was given a tour before the official opening. One of the most impressive features is a one-tonne gold statue of an ox, said to be worth $47.2 million.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

A woman stands next to a gold statue of an ox during the official inauguration of the Longxi hotel on Oct. 8. The one-tonne statue greets visitors at a viewing area on the 60th-floor of the tower.

It may model itself on Dubai, but Huaxi is still officially classified as a village. Its original residents, just 2,000 families, have shared in the bonanza of its transformation. Reuters reports that they each have at least $250,000 in the bank, as well as enjoying universal health care and free education. 

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Officials attend the inauguration ceremony of the new skyscraper on October 8. Officials from elsewhere in China tour Huaxi to find out how this once sleepy village, with just 576 residents in the 1950s, could have become so rich.

The rise of Huaxi, which now operates as a conglomerate with interests in steel, shipping, tobacco and textiles, has drawn tens of thousands of migrant workers, Watts reports, but their comparitively meager earnings have left them on the outside looking in.

What remains unclear is where the hotel, with its 826 bedrooms and dining facilities for 5,000 guests, will find its patrons. Local officials confidently predict a tourist rush, but if it does not materialize then their golden ox may come to resemble nothing no much as a great white elephant in the sky.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Guests attend a dinner at the new hotel before its official inauguration on October 8.