On November 17, a large number of people dressed in security uniforms, planned by the local government, broke through the owners’ barrier and forcibly entered the Jiuhua Agricultural Demonstration Park, a residential community in Xiaotangshan Town, Changping, Beijing, posting notices of demolition and eviction. At present, the natural gas supply to the community has been cut off. More than 2,100 of the residents are facing a cold winter, and their lives are in jeopardy.
The Jiuhua Agricultural Science Park in Xiaotangshan Township, Changping District, Beijing, China, was established in 1998. On May 20 of that year, several Beijing authorities issued a document entitled “Beijing’s Tourism Agriculture Development Plan” to all district and county governments, as well as to all relevant city agencies, calling for the construction of the “Xiaotangshan Tourism Agriculture Base. On December 22nd of that year, Li Zhiwu, then Mayor of Xiaotangshan Township and Secretary of the Communist Party of China, signed a power of attorney, authorizing Beijing Jiuhua Investment Consulting Company to carry out, on behalf of the Xiaotangshan Township government, “a full range of industrial, agricultural, cultural, educational, tourism, health, real estate and other projects in the township area. The planning and investment attraction work.” Eight days later, the Hululu River Village Economic Cooperative of Xiaotangshan Township signed a contract with Jiuhua Investment Consultant Company as the first party. In the contract, Party A leased a piece of agricultural land to Party B for the implementation of “urban sightseeing agriculture” project, and 10% of each mu of land was “experimental sightseeing land for building houses”, with a land use period of 50 years. In this way, Jiuhua Investment Consulting Company built the “Jiuhua Agricultural Science Park” on the leased land and developed the real estate. By this year, Jiuhua Agricultural Science Park has grown into a residential community of 299 households with more than 2,100 residents.
An anonymous owner of the community, said that in 1998, the Investment Promotion Office in the town of Xiaotangshan, Peking University, Tsinghua University two high-profile publicity Jiuhua Agricultural Science Park, to attract a number of Peking University and Tsinghua alumni to invest in the park. However, on November 17 of this year, Wang Hongmin, the secretary of Xiaotangshan Township, hired more than 200 people dressed in black to force their way into the park, “occupy the owners’ security room, break into the property office, and steal the owners’ self-purchased (natural gas) station,” resulting in residents being unable to heat their homes in the cold winter. Shivering”, the elderly and children were “cold and frightened”.
The owner, Ms. Zhang, told reporters about the forced entry of men in black into the community. She said that people in security uniforms in black since the evening of November 16, appeared outside the community gate, trying to force entry. In the morning of November 17, more men in black arrived outside the community, and residents set up a barricade with iron horses at the gate to try to stop the men in black from entering the community. Although some community residents dialed the police phone number 110 and the “mayor’s hotline” 12345, but did not get an effective response. Shortly after, the men in black broke open the door to the property office and poured into the neighborhood, posting demolition notices everywhere. In addition, the community’s natural gas station was also damaged by excavators. In the case of the incident, a letter was posted on the 17th, and we went to the petition department in the town, saying that our demand is to restore the natural gas supply, but the natural gas station has been demolished by excavators, saying that we are not legal. We called 110, and 110 said it was a government action. When we got to town, the town said that you guys were the ones who installed the natural gas. In fact, the natural gas was done by the property, and we all paid for it, and it was removed by the government.”
The notice posted by the men in black was issued by the Xiaotangshan town government. The notice stated that the construction of the houses in the district violated the Beijing Urban and Rural Planning Regulations and “belonged to illegal buildings. Therefore, the Xiaotangshan town government intends to “make a decision to order the demolition of these houses.” In this regard, another owner Mr. Song said: “Our community, the government’s investment behavior, has been more than 20 years. Now they do so, completely illegal, engage in surprise attacks. Without any notice of the premise, immediately dug up our liquefied petroleum gas station. The gas station cost tens of millions of dollars (when it was built). If it’s illegal, why didn’t you stop it when it was built?”
In response to the current situation of the neighborhood residents, Ms. Zhang said in an interview on November 19: “Several of us are panicking and tired right now. I, for example, have not slept for several days and nights. We went to the court today, but the court didn’t accept it, so we went to the town. They said they would cut off our water and electricity in a few days. Where am I going to find a house when I have 80 years old people in my house? We’ve lived here for over twenty years.”
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