Collector Buys Mig for Office Toy

Most people decorate their offices with potted plants, portraits of their families or humorous desk tidies, but a businessman in China has splashed out on something that conveys an altogether more forceful corporate image: a MiG fighter plane.

In a swoop on eBay, Zhang Cheng has snapped up the Russian-designed MiG-21f plane for $24,730 (£13,500), according to the Beijing News.

"I like to collect valuable items. I have the buying power and my company has an empty space where I can display the plane," the newspaper quoted Mr Zhang as saying.

According to the eBay report, the plane is parked up in Lewiston, Idaho. Retired by the Czech air force, the jet was last flown in 1995 and was found to be in "excellent condition" during a recent inspection by a museum.

Importing several tonnes of cold war firepower from the US to China may create a few logistical and customs hurdles, however. But there has been a larger precedent: the decommissioned Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk was bought by a Chinese scrap metal firm and resold later as a tourist attraction in Shenzhen.

However, the ship's owners recently went bankrupt and were unable to find a buyer when they put the carrier up for auction.

If the same thing happens to Mr Zhang when he tires of his new office toy, he may wish he had invested in a more modest souvenir.