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Living on an island in a big city…

What happens if your house is in the middle of a redevelopment zone? In China that normally means that you have bad luck. You might get some form of compensation, but you need to move out before the bulldozers come. No way around it it seems, at least most of the time. A family in Chongqing (rumoured to have good government connections) refused to accept compensation and move. The picture shows what happened: they now live on a 12 meter high cliff in one of the most densely populated cities in China!

(picture from Metro.co.uk, through Shanghaiist)

Update: It turns out that my media sources were wrong, the China Herald reports that the house is not owned by protesters, but by the construction company. It is used as the constructor’s temporary residence.

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  1. they are also rumoured to be demanding the equivalent of 2 million euro’s to be bought out. Until now the real estate developer has refused. If the connections are true there is no way to get them out but to buy them out. That could mean a very nice residential upgrade.
    news link of 2 million euro demand

  2. Hi Marc,

    whereabout in Chongqing is that? I know it must be somwehere along the monorail but in which district.

    Cheers from Chongqing,
    Michael

  3. It’s at Yangjiaping station on the monorail line. However, you’d better be quick to take a look, because according to the blogosphere tonight an agreement has been reached with the owners. I would not be surprised if the nailhouse will be gone by tomorrow.

  4. Yep, things change rapidly here in CQ. I will check out the site this morning.

    Also I read that teh deadline is on April 10.

    Cheers, Michael

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