The Bumpy Road to Property Rights
As real estate development continues at a torrid pace around and the Chinese authorities continued to make strides (ok, baby steps) on the path toward establishing individual property rights, a proverbial bump in the road presented itself in the form of a 30 foot tall "dingzi" (a Chinese word that means "nail" but is also used to describe someone unwilling to vacate their home) in Chongqing (the largest 30 million person city no one has ever heard of).
If a picture is worth a thousand words, the below link says it all.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2237937.html?menu
Real Estate developers were unwilling to entice this brave soul to take an offer for their house, which happened to be sitting smack in the middle of the development project. Word of the story spread around forms around China, and the "hard as nails" homeowner became something of a cult hero overnight, viewed by many as someone standing up for the people and testing just how far the newly established property laws went.
Below are some associated quotes:
"At the beginning of March, a photo called "the coolest nail house in history" stirred up a lot of debate. Within the space of a few days, this photo was widely circulated and posted all over the Internet, and a lot of media as well as the general populace were interested in the affair.
This happened at the same time as the Property Law [was being discussed at the NPC], so people were even more curious about it. The final fate of "the coolest nail house in history" will be a famous monument to the progress of the Property Law.
The Tianya post has hundreds of comments representing many different points of view about the Property Law, the evils of state- and privately-owned real estate development, and the the rights of tenants. The online chatter about property rights makes for an interesting contrast with recent discussion of property rights in the traditional media, for example this story excerpted from The Wall Street Journal:
China Magazine Is Pulled As Property Law Looms
A landmark proposal to protect private property was formally introduced into China's legislature amid continuing controversy, and in one possible sign of the legislation's sensitivity, the latest issue of an influential Chinese business magazine that covered it was pulled earlier this week.
It wasn't immediately clear who blocked the issue of Caijing -- a move that came during one of the busiest periods in China's political calendar -- or why. But according to a person familiar with the situation, the issue included articles, among others, on the bankruptcy of a government-controlled brokerage firm and on the piece of property-rights legislation, which has drawn vocal criticism."
The homeowner, Ms. Wu Ping, was quoted as saying:
"Among the residents moving, I am the largest private property owner, furthermore you can basically say I am the only one who has complete papers, such as a property rights land right certificates, they both clearly indicated that it is a building zoned for business. At that time I had just finished renovations, and they (the developer) said they had to tear everything down and people had to be relocated, as a result this was really damaging for us. According to my property right certificate, I am clearly in ownership of 219 square meters, so for this use it should be returned to me."
Below is a link to an interview with Ms. Ping:
http://www.proxzee.com/index.php?q=aHR0cDovL3ZlbnR1cmUxNjAud29yZHByZXNzLmNvbS8yMDA3LzAzLzIyL2ludGVydmlldy13aXRoLWNoaW5hcy1tb3N0LWluY3JlZGlibGUtaG9sZG91dC8
In the end, it all came crashing down, literally. While the effort on Ms. Ping's part was valiant and will undoubtedly encourage imitators across the country, there are some things, property rights included, that will simply not be allowed to stand in the way of continued economic development, that includes "nails in the road."
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DanweiRss10/~3/106193467/chonqing_nail_house_destroyed.php
If a picture is worth a thousand words, the below link says it all.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2237937.html?menu
Real Estate developers were unwilling to entice this brave soul to take an offer for their house, which happened to be sitting smack in the middle of the development project. Word of the story spread around forms around China, and the "hard as nails" homeowner became something of a cult hero overnight, viewed by many as someone standing up for the people and testing just how far the newly established property laws went.
Below are some associated quotes:
"At the beginning of March, a photo called "the coolest nail house in history" stirred up a lot of debate. Within the space of a few days, this photo was widely circulated and posted all over the Internet, and a lot of media as well as the general populace were interested in the affair.
This happened at the same time as the Property Law [was being discussed at the NPC], so people were even more curious about it. The final fate of "the coolest nail house in history" will be a famous monument to the progress of the Property Law.
The Tianya post has hundreds of comments representing many different points of view about the Property Law, the evils of state- and privately-owned real estate development, and the the rights of tenants. The online chatter about property rights makes for an interesting contrast with recent discussion of property rights in the traditional media, for example this story excerpted from The Wall Street Journal:
China Magazine Is Pulled As Property Law Looms
A landmark proposal to protect private property was formally introduced into China's legislature amid continuing controversy, and in one possible sign of the legislation's sensitivity, the latest issue of an influential Chinese business magazine that covered it was pulled earlier this week.
It wasn't immediately clear who blocked the issue of Caijing -- a move that came during one of the busiest periods in China's political calendar -- or why. But according to a person familiar with the situation, the issue included articles, among others, on the bankruptcy of a government-controlled brokerage firm and on the piece of property-rights legislation, which has drawn vocal criticism."
The homeowner, Ms. Wu Ping, was quoted as saying:
"Among the residents moving, I am the largest private property owner, furthermore you can basically say I am the only one who has complete papers, such as a property rights land right certificates, they both clearly indicated that it is a building zoned for business. At that time I had just finished renovations, and they (the developer) said they had to tear everything down and people had to be relocated, as a result this was really damaging for us. According to my property right certificate, I am clearly in ownership of 219 square meters, so for this use it should be returned to me."
Below is a link to an interview with Ms. Ping:
http://www.proxzee.com/index.php?q=aHR0cDovL3ZlbnR1cmUxNjAud29yZHByZXNzLmNvbS8yMDA3LzAzLzIyL2ludGVydmlldy13aXRoLWNoaW5hcy1tb3N0LWluY3JlZGlibGUtaG9sZG91dC8
In the end, it all came crashing down, literally. While the effort on Ms. Ping's part was valiant and will undoubtedly encourage imitators across the country, there are some things, property rights included, that will simply not be allowed to stand in the way of continued economic development, that includes "nails in the road."
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DanweiRss10/~3/106193467/chonqing_nail_house_destroyed.php
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