A senior citizen who sold fake craftworks has been sentenced to 15 years in prison in Beijing.

Jiang Yinglong, who came to Beijing in 2003 claimed his goods were original royal artefacts of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Jiang began his cheating to pay for treatment of his illness. In April 2004, a manager surnamed Niu from an auction house in Beijing fell victim, and was cheated of 3.3 million yuan ($428,571) after seeing Jiang's "craftworks", he insisted were antiques from the Qing royal family.