Survivor House
China's version of 'David vs. Goliath' in the real estate market!
Demolition crews don't always get their way -
a survivor stands tall...
Testing private-property law... Wu Ping's home (located in Chongqing,
southwest China)
was left standing on its own island
as the family refused to accept compensation to move.
While the row rumbled on,
the bulldozers excavated the site around them.
Rumoured to have government
connections,
the family is not expected to be forced out.
This is the first major test of a newly passed private-property law...
[JP Press: 3 April 2007] Authorities in
China have torn down a stubborn couple's house after a three-year stand-off that
hindered a construction project and captivated the nation, a witness and state
media said.
Wu Ping and Yang Wu have been fighting off bulldozers in downtown Chongqing
since 2004, when they were one of 280 households asked to make way for a
redevelopment project in the booming southwestern city of nearly 28 million.
Their two-storey brick building was clawed into dust by an earth mover as a few
dozen reporters and people looked on late last night, said witness Zhang
Shuguang, who photographed the event and posted them to his blog.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Wu and Yang had agreed to move into a
similar sized apartment elsewhere in Chongqing.
The building had been standing precariously on a small island of land surrounded
by a vast construction site.
Chinese news reports and online commentators refer to the home as a "dingzihu"
or "nail house," playing on a phrase for troublemakers who stick up like nails
and refuse to go along with government policies.
