In China, Fight Over Development Creates a Star

[otherlander]

Source: New York Times

CHONGQING, China, March 23 — For weeks a dispute had drawn attention from people all across China as a simple homeowner stared down the forces of large-scale redevelopment that are sweeping this country, blocking the preparation of a gigantic construction site by an act of sheer will.

Chinese bloggers were the first to spread the news of a house perched atop a tall, thimble-shaped piece of land like Mont St. Michel in the middle of a vast excavation. Newspapers dove in next, followed by national television. Then, in a way that is common in China whenever an event begins to take on hints of political overtones, the story virtually disappeared from the news media, bloggers here said, after the government decreed that the subject was suddenly out of bounds.

What drove interest in the Chongqing case was the uncanny ability of the homeowner to hold out for so long. Stories are legion in Chinese cities of the arrest or even beating of people who protest too vigorously against their eviction and relocation. In one often-heard twist, holdouts are summoned to the local police station, and return home only to find their house already demolished. How had this owner, a woman no less, managed? Millions wondered.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/world/asia/26cnd-china.html?ex=1332561600&en=a821e0f74e7385fa&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[BayCityProgressive]

1. China just passed a new

Property bill..supposedly the most important bill in decades...it for the first time, lays out legal boundries for private, public, and co-op property rights. There was a lot of debate over it and it was shelved 7 times before passing-very unusual for China. It guarantees many new rights to private property to encourage investment, gives new powers to people to form co-op living and businesses and own the land collectively, and also gives more protection to socialist property-outlawing the sale of any socialist property or any mergers of socialist industry without the express approval of the central government. The bill was debated for over a year. The right-wing of the party said they needed more investment and more protection of private assets and the left-wing argued that they were copying capitalism "like pathetic slaves", lawmakers form the countryside argued for more protections and aid for rural areas where civil unrest has been growing. All sides finally agreed on this bill which will go into effect in Oct.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6429317.stm

[daleo]

2. This man's house would be expropriated in the U.S.

The Supreme Court ruled that way not long ago, as long as the city could claim that it served an important economic interest (like a shopping center).

[BayCityProgressive]

3. don't flame me

because I don't know much about the issue and I will admit that..but..I wouldn't have a problem moving. Sure, it would be a pain the ass, but as long as I was fairly compensated...what could justify my as one person standing in the way of 500 jobs, expanding a highway essential to thousands, or some other social need? Trust me, I have moved 4 times in 2 yrs so I know it sucks...but there was recently a road expansion in my town and the state paid everyone very fairly to move. Most of the businesses are now twice the size they were before....

[daleo]

4. I think sometimes expropriation is acceptable

I would judge it on a case by case basis. I was just pointing out the irony of the situation. Most people probably expect that property rights of this sort would be much stronger in the U.S. than in "communist" China.