Beijing would close Xiushui market, its best-known outdoor clothing market for safety reasons, Chinese media reported.

"The Xiushui market would definitely be closed," Su Min, head of a neighborhood committee that oversees the market told a news conference Wednesday.

Su cited safety reasons such as fire hazards and road safety.

"The market did not get approval from firefighting authorities when it was built 20 years ago," Su was quoted by the Beijing Star Daily as saying.

"The market has also occupied space needed for public facilities such as roads and piping," said Su.

The government had planned a hearing to decide the fate of the market Thursday, but Su told the news conference the hearing would be postponed indefinitely.

Instead, the government had decided to hold two separate meetings for shop owners and the general public Thursday and Friday to solicit their opinions.

Built in 1984 near the area housing foreign embassies, the Xiushui market is a commercial street with 20,000 to 30,000 visitors a day generating an annual turnover exceeding 100 million yuan (US$12 million).

For foreign tourists, Xiushui is as famous as the Great Wall and the Imperial Palace.

Many people are against closing the market saying it had become a famous landmark.

(Shenzhen Daily July 16, 2004)