China shuts down 2 temples for deceiving tourists

China says two temples on a sacred Buddhist mountain have been shut down and six people arrested after fake monks reportedly deceived tourists into donating money.

China says two temples on a sacred Buddhist mountain have been shut down and six people arrested after fake monks reportedly deceived tourists into donating money.

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The official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday that the Mount Wutai Administration Bureau closed two of the mountain's dozens of temples and revoked their business licenses Friday.

It says the six people were arrested over illegal funding and that the temples had reportedly hired fake monks to con tourists into buying expensive incense and paying unreasonable amounts of money for ceremonies.

Last year, the government's religious affairs office called on local authorities to ban profiteering related to religious activity and told them not to allow religious venues to be run as business ventures.

Mount Wutai is on UNESCO's World Heritage List.