For Chinese, lunar land deals are 'a kind of fraud'

Apparently, in China (unlike here, here or here) it's not legal to sell tracts of land on the moon:

"The selling of land on the moon by the Lunar Embassy to its clients is a kind of fraud," the watchdog said, according to the paper.

"To own a piece of land on the moon accords with no articles of national regulations and policies in China. It is nothing but a beautiful dream."

Previous reports had said each lunar title ensured property ownership for the client, including rights to use the land and minerals up to three kilometers (two miles) underground.

The business, going by the name Lunar Embassy, was originally shut down in October, and since then, the company chief has fought to get the company's business license reinstated: "There is not a law or regulation in China that prohibits the selling of land on the moon." Chinese regulators do not agree.

Before Lunar Embassy was forced to stop selling pieces of the moon for just 37 dollars an acre, 49 acres had been sold to 34 clients. Shanghaiist would love to speak with one of these happy landowners to hear exactly what they were planning to do with their real estate ... and also perhaps how they were planning on reaching their lunar plots in the first place.