Residents living in a six-floor apartment building in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan were recently ordered to demolish two fake “floors” painted on their building’s rooftop.

The so-called floors were actually a 5.5-meter-high board painted to look identical to the rest of the building's exterior. The mural was the residents’ collective effort to expel misfortune that they believed had arrived with a newly built highway overpass nearby.

The residents told media that they were made uneasy by the recent deaths of several neighbors, all of whom died from cancer before they reached old age. Rather than asking for the building's apartments to be inspected, they instead turned to a feng shui master.

The master claimed that the neighboring overpass suppressed the residents' good fortune because it was slightly taller than their building. In order to outdo the highway in height and reclaim their good luck, the residents came up with the idea of adding painted-on floors to their rooftop.

Although the mural didn't constitute an actual construction, it was still considered illegal. The fake floors were therefore removed on June 21 in accordance with a mandate issued by local authorities.