Huang Zhenyun stands in front of his house holding his property ownership certificate. His wife holds a copy of the newly amended Constitution.

Sixty-three-year-old Huang Zhenyun says the newly passed amendment to the Constitution is the key to keeping his house from being torn down--at least for a while.

The house, which Huang inherited from his father, is in Beijing's Chongwen District, where most of the old dwellings are set to be demolished to make room for new high-rises.

Huang said he and his wife were not able to agree on resettlement compensation with the developer and have refused to move out of their home.

Now, Huang carries a copy of the newly amended Constitution with him everywhere. He has underlined a couple of sentences: "The lawful private property of citizens shall not be encroached upon" and "The state respects and protects human rights."

Those words are included in the amendments passed by the country's top legislature on March 14.

Huang said he held up a copy of the document as he stood at the gate of his house as the bulldozers arrived on the early morning of April 1. That was the deadline set by the district government for him to move out.

"Actually, we'd be glad to move into a new apartment if the compensation they were offering was reasonable," Huang's wife, Pang Wenyi, told China Daily Monday.

But the developer was offering just 5,950 yuan (US$719) per square meter. Huang and his wife argued that that was the amount set for state-owned housing, and that compensation for their house should be higher because it is privately owned.

The family also argues that they should be compensated for the 10 square meters of land around their house, while the developer insists on paying only for the 20-square-meter single room.

The Huashi community in Chongwen District stands against a backdrop of high-rise apartment buildings. Most of the older houses have been torn down.

"So we can only get 120,000 yuan (US$14,500). How can we buy a new apartment with so little money?" cried Pang, adding that her family lives on government allowances and has little in the way of savings.

Huang said the district land resources and housing management authority issued a ruling on the dispute in February. It urged Huang to accept the compensation and move out.

Then the district government delivered a notice to Huang on March 29. It said that his house would be forcibly torn down on April 1.

"We can only resist the bulldozers for a while. My husband and I are on pins and needles these days and even lay awake some nights," said Pang. "I hope the government can work out a reasonable solution to this dispute in accordance with the law."

Chongwen District officials say they are continuing to negotiate to try to end the dispute.

(China Daily April 6, 2004)