A woman allowed to drive her luxury SUV in the "Forbidden City" in Beijing has sparked outrage in China against the privileges, power and vanity of the wealthy.
The woman shared pictures of herself and her friend in front of the luxury car in the historical site of the former imperial city in the Chinese capital on the "Weibo" short message service.
"It is closed on Monday, but we avoid tourists and enjoy the Palace Museum," she wrote in her brochure.
The post, which was subsequently deleted, recorded hundreds of thousands of re-posts and comments as of Sunday. The "Forbidden City" administration, where cars are forbidden to enter, said it was "deeply shaken" and promised, with an apology, to prevent "such phenomena" in the future.
He did not explain why women were permitted to enter the six-century-old World Heritage site.
"The rules apply to everyone, and no one has the right to stir riots," wrote the official newspaper, Al-Shaab, on the woman, who media reports had previously announced that she had married a family belonging to the country's Communist Party elite.