Man detained for scaling China's tallest building

SHANGHAI, Aug 1 (Reuters) Shanghai police have detained a Chinese man for climbing the country's tallest building months after a French man earned 15 days in jail for the same feat.

The 28-year-old, surnamed Zou and from the poor southern province of Hunan, began climbing Shanghai's 420.5-metre (1,380-foot) Jin Mao Tower at dusk yesterday, city police said on their Web site (http://gaj.sh.gov.cn/shpolice/).

He reached the top after about six hours and was ''persuaded and pulled'' into the building by police at 1.30 am today, the statement said. Zou, unemployed, would be detained for a week for ''disrupting public order'', the police added.

In May, Frenchman Alain Robert, renowned for scaling the world's tallest buildings, climbed and descended the same 88-storey tower bare-handed, clad in a Spider-Man costume, in just 90 minutes.

In 2001, Chinese shoe salesman Han Qizhi became the first person to scale the Jin Mao Tower. Han, who had happened to walk by the building and acted on a ''rash impulse'', was detained for about two weeks.

Five people have now climbed the tower from the outside without approval, Xinhua said. Police detained them all.

REUTERS RN VV1601