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With the demolition of the famous "nail house" in Chongqing and acceptable compensation having been guaranteed for its owners, the door has now shut on a landmark case for individual property rights protection. The "nail house" became a national symbol as media efforts zeroed in on the struggle for justice.
The battle may be over, but the memory of the nail house incident in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality is likely to linger on. Forty-nine-year-old Wu Ping and her 51-year-old husband Yang Wu only wanted to get what they thought was adequate compensation for the small building where for years they had lived and run a restaurant. The site had been targeted for demolition to make way for a shopping center. But it was the sight of their two-storey house perched atop a tall, thimble-shaped spur of land that stirred up a media frenzy during the past fortnight. The couple's home was soon dubbed the "nail house" in reference to the Chinese way of describing the stubborn couple who just did not want to move. With the demolition of the famous "nail house" in Chongqing and acceptable compensation for its owners, the door closed on a landmark case for the protection of individual property rights. The case tested the issue of relocation compensation in disputes caused by real estate development. The "nail house" became a national symbol as media efforts zeroed in on the struggle for justice. After more than two years of confrontation between the owners of the house and real estate developers, the two sides reached an agreement moderated by the local court. The case served as a rehearsal for dispute settlements concerning private property under the new Property Law, which becomes effective in October.
Yesterday, a local court in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality held a press conference and revealed the detailed compensation agreement between the developer and the couple, whose house was demolished Monday night. The husband and wife whose home and business were left marooned on a spike of land in the middle of a construction site have agreed to end their dispute with developers. The couple will be compensated an additional 900,000 yuan (US$115,385) for the loss of their business, the local court revealed at a press conference on Tuesday. The developer, Chongqing Zhirun Real Estate Co. Ltd., will compensate Wu Ping and Yang Wu for 30 months of losses at a rate of 30,000 yuan (US$3,846) per month, said Yang Guang, an official with Jiulongpo District Court. The court, as an intermediary, mediated the dispute between the couple and the developer on Monday afternoon. The final agreement was reached at 4 PM on Monday.
Beijing authorities on Tuesday demolished a so-called "nail house" at the construction site of the new China Central Television (CCTV) Tower, which is currently about half completed. The house in eastern Beijing has hampered the construction of CCTV's new complex of office buildings which is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2008 Olympic Games, sources with a local court told Xinhua. The demolition comes a day after another controversial nail house in Chongqing was razed after the owner reached an agreement with the developer. A nail house refers to a home left standing in the middle of a construction site after all other homes in the neighborhood have been demolished to make way for a new development. Owners of nail houses refuse to accept compensation or acknowledge eviction orders. The construction committee in Chaoyang District of Beijing ordered the owner, surnamed Qiu, to vacate his house in November, 2005. Qiu ignored the order.
A husband and wife whose home and business were left marooned on a spike of land in the middle of a construction site have agreed to end their dispute with developers. The couple in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality will be compensated an additional 900,000 yuan (US$115,385) for the loss of their business, a local court said on Tuesday. The developer, Chongqing Zhirun Real Estate Co. Ltd., will compensate Wu Ping and Yang Wu for 30 months of losses at a rate of 30,000 yuan (US$3,846) a month, said Yang Guang, an official with Jiulongpo District Court. The couple's fight came to a head after a photo of their home was widely circulated in the media. It showed their house perched on top of a spike of land in the middle of a 17-meter-deep excavation site where the foundations of a new shopping mall will be built. The additional compensation raises the total compensation package to 3.5 million yuan (US$455,000) and will provide the couple with 500,000 yuan after they purchase and renovate a similar sized new home in the Shapingba District in downtown Chongqing, Yang said. Water and electricity to the couple's two-storey brick house in Jiulongpo District was cut in 2004 but they refused to move. Developers had earlier persuaded 280 other families to make way for a new shopping mall.
A Chinese couple's battle to stop developers from razing their 219-square-meter home has finally come to an end with a negotiated agreement that included starting the demolition of their house in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Monday evening. Wu Ping and Yang Wu, the owners of the only two-storey brick building still standing in the development zone, left their house on Monday afternoon, according to local sources. As compensation, they accepted an apartment in the Shapingba district of downtown Chongqing, similar in size to their old one, local sources said. Their former 219-square-meter house has been dubbed the "nail house" because it refused to be hammered down. The pair has been fighting off bulldozers there since 2004, when developers pleaded with them and another 280 households to make way for a shopping mall. But the compensation proposed by the developer -- 18,000 yuan (US$2,308) per square meter -- fell short of residents' expectations. (China.org.cn) |
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