Chinese ‘nail house’ torn down

BEIJING – For three years, Wu Ping and Yang Wu held off the bulldozers, refusing to allow their home to be torn down for a redevelopment project in southwestern China and captivating a nation in the process.

For three years, they turned down offers from a real estate developer, until the house stood alone in a construction pit, sitting precariously on a mound of earth.

When they finally reached a deal that gave them enough compensation, an earth mover began clawing away at their home.

Three years of defiance was gone in three hours.

Developers on Monday night finally tore down the “nail house,” as the two-story brick abode came to be known.

The term was coined by state media and Web commentators because the house stuck up like a nail that couldn’t be pulled out. “Dingzihu,” or “nail house,” also plays on a common, usually derogatory, Chinese phrase for troublemakers who refuse to go along with government policies.

Wu and Yang were one of 280 households in downtown Chongqing asked in 2004 to make way for a redevelopment project in the booming southwestern city of nearly 28 million.

They refused, even though surrounding residences were demolished one by one.

Wu was offered $258,000 in compensation, or two higher floors in the planned complex – both of which she turned down because she wanted lower levels in the new building so she could run her restaurant.

Eventually, their home was the only one left, perched on the small island of land surrounded by the vast construction site.

The couple’s passive resistance has been portrayed by state media as heroic. Images of their house have been plastered in newspapers recently and have been the focus of editorials and cartoons. Discussions have flooded Chinese Internet chat rooms.

“I support you! Hold on! Governments are indifferent of people’s needs. You are the pride of the Chinese people!” said one posting on ynet.com, the Web site of the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper.

“This is not an individual case, it concerns the rights of all those Chinese who say their homes were demolished. You are the people’s heroes!” declared an anonymous posting on the Yangcheng Evening News’ Web site.

Property disputes and illegal land grabs have accelerated recently as China’s economy expands at double-digit rates and farmland is gobbled up for industrial parks and skyscrapers. Government officials often have sided with developers, touching off riots and protests.