Despite the strong condemnation and questions from the public and the opposition and protests from the owners, Beijing and Changping District authorities continue to carry out forced demolition in the Xiangtang Cultural Village, which was once promoted as a model by the government, by cutting off water, electricity and gas supply in the cold winter, and by sending a large number of security guards to block the roads and maintain stability. The ongoing standoff between the government and the people in Xiangtang Village has prompted the outside world to pay more attention to what the owners have called a “humanitarian disaster”.
Professor’s hunger strike invites surveillance
Yang Yusheng, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, is one of the property owners facing demolition in Xiangtang Village. Three days ago, Yang Yusheng was forced to start a hunger strike after his house was cut off from water, electricity and gas. It is understood that the university leadership of the University of Political Science and Law visited Professor Yang at his home upon hearing the news, and he still has lectures scheduled at the university, so he has stopped his hunger strike for now. However, Yang Yusheng disclosed to Voice of America that some anomalies have occurred in terms of his security and travel. “A new surveillance (probe) has been placed outside the fence against me,” he said, “and through the probe, it’s against me, I guess.”
Yang Yusheng said he drove to the school to give a lecture Tuesday morning and was followed closely by two cars at the entrance, which he was able to get rid of only after he went to the police station and called the police. He said he was stopped again late at night at the Xiangtang intersection to check his documents and was questioned about whether he had been tested for the new coronavirus nucleic acid, so he had to call the police again.
Yang Yusheng said that after his home was cut off from electricity, water and gas, he was unable to live at all, so he called the Beijing mayor’s service hotline to protest and urge the authorities to protect his right to live, but the Beijing government has not responded so far.
The scholar from the University of Political Science and Law pointed out that the practice of disconnecting water, electricity and gas taken by the local authorities is totally illegal and not only has no legal basis, but also hurts God and breaks the bottom line of being a human being. “This has no legal basis,” he said, “and it has no basis from the perspective of human feelings. In winter, cutting off water and electricity is to put people to death. There are no basic living conditions. Even in Nazi Germany, for the Jews, in the concentration camps, it will not be cut off water, electricity and gas. So I think it is not reasonable to justify. So I say, this practice of theirs, the first level of government, is hurtful and inhumane.”
The “men in black” blocked the road and the atmosphere in the village was tense
Meanwhile, the video circulating online shows that the owners of Xiangtang Village, District 9, District 10 and Old District 4, who have been cut off from water and electricity, are still struggling to defend their rights under the harsh and difficult conditions. Security guards in dark uniforms holding riot shields are lined up in a human wall around the perimeter, and red banners with slogans such as “Resolutely stop the black and evil forces” are hanging on the fence.
It is understood that about one-third of the houses in Xiangtang Village are considered illegal construction is the only property of the owners, some of the owners are elderly, some of the elderly are bedridden. Two days ago, a mother and daughter in Heungtang Village were taken to the ambulance for emergency treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning after their house was pinched and cut off from water, electricity and gas, and they burned a coal stove for heating.
A homeowner told the Voice of America that a homeowner adjacent to Yang Yusheng’s house in the front and back rows had set up two liquefied petroleum gas tanks on his house in order to defend his home. Some villagers living in seven other districts were blocked by black-clad men who set up barricades when they brought food to the embattled homeowners.
Professor Xing Xiaoqun, retired from the China Youth Politics Academy, told the Voice of America that neighbors called for solidarity, but people were blocked by security guards on their way to visit Yang Yusheng.
The retired professor said, “People pooled their money to send them some food or something. But we went over to see Professor Yang, he had several posts, a barricade with two rows of three rows of men in black, and they wouldn’t let us in.”
Mr. Jin, another owner of Xiangtang Village, told Voice of America that the villagers who have been cut off from water, electricity and gas are now living on what little food and water they have left and holding on to their homes because once they leave, they can’t go back. “It’s still going on,” he said, “and as long as there’s no one inside the home, they can break in and just tear it down. Some people are afraid to come to the house because they are afraid of getting killed.”
Mr. Jin pointed out that large demolition machines, sprinklers and moving vans and other house-demolition equipment vehicles parked at the village roadside, the authorities temporarily recruited security personnel at the entrance of the village to set up a checkpoint. “The main check is for foreign vehicles. Before no ah, also because of the forced demolition of this matter, may be afraid to cause a big mess it. Now the speech is to maintain stability well.”
“Guo Da Sister” was arrested family prayed for freedom from fear
Many of them are from the elite class of Beijing, including cultural celebrities of Chinese and foreign fame, the “second and third generations of the Red Generation” who have inherited the “Red Gene”, and some expatriates with extensive social activism and influence.
As previously reported by Voice of America, on Dec. 5, Guo Lingmei, the eldest daughter of red poet Guo Xiaochuan and former editor and director of the CCTV news and film studio, was criminally detained by the Changping Public Security Bureau on charges of gathering a crowd and disturbing public order. A video on the Internet shows that Guo Lingmei, known as “Big Sister Guo”, signed a “suicide note” expressing her determination to defend her home and property, which was co-signed by some rights owners.
It is reported that after the 70-year-old Guo Lingmei was locked up in the detention center, family members and lawyers who went to visit her were told that they could not meet with her while the case was under investigation to avoid collusion. Sources close to the case believe that Guo Lingmei’s case is a political issue, not a legal one, and that it would be difficult to follow the procedure even with a lawyer.
Guo Xiaolin, Guo Lingmei’s older brother, told the Voice of America on Friday that his sister was not being mistreated, according to the detention center. He also expressed gratitude for the public opinion and international media’s attention to Guo Lingmei’s arrest for defending her home.
“We hope the top will fulfill its promise to let people live a happy life,” Guo Xiaolin said, “You at least want to make sure people don’t have this fear of suddenly having their property confiscated and their houses forcibly demolished, don’t you? I hope that world public opinion, the world’s righteous regimes and people will care about the human rights situation of the Chinese people and the survival of the Chinese people. That’s all I have a modest request.”
Guo Xiaolin, who lives in a house left behind by his parents in Beijing, pointed out that the language of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which states that “the state protects the lawful property of citizens,” leaves room for official interpretation at will, laying the groundwork. “Our current constitution never says that private property is sacrosanct. When I want to demolish you, I say you are not legal property. When I don’t want to tear you down, you are legal property. This sets the stage for not protecting the property of citizens. Everyone’s property and even life, like Liu Shaoqi, your president, his life and property are protected by law? Not protected by law either. So this is very frightening.”
Artists fighting for the country: light in the heart
According to some Xiangtang owners, they all got the property documents stamped with the official seal of CuiCun town government and Xiangtang village committee and the collective land use permit issued by the land management department of Changping County at that time when they bought their houses here.
Mr. Jin, the owner, said that it is true that some of the houses that were removed from the forced demolition by the deadline occupied the mountain, but since these properties were found to be illegally built, the Xiangtang Village Committee and the Cui Village Township Government, which illegally built and sold the houses, should be held responsible, and not the innocent owners, also called “bona fide third parties”. He believes that the owners facing forced demolition are justified in defending their rights and fighting, and the government cannot ignore the legitimate rights of the owners.
Public information shows that a few months ago, Xiangtang Village held a painting exhibition to commemorate the late Chinese Communist Party leaders Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping and other founding fathers of the government.
On December 10, World Human Rights Day, Shao Xin gave a speech at his museum of Olympic design and art in Xiangtang village, vowing to resolutely fight, and on December 13, he played the piano for his friends and neighbors by candlelight in the museum, where the power was cut off, to the tune “Light in My Heart,” which he improvised to express his feelings after the water and electricity were cut off.
The reason why the authorities are pushing the demolition is a mystery
The authorities have ignored the public opinion and the demands of the owners of Heungtang Village, and are determined to demolish their homes on the grounds of cleaning up illegal structures and protecting the ecology, and to label the owners who are fighting for their rights as “black and evil forces”.
One theory is related to the location of Heungtang Village. According to the official website of Xiangtang Cultural Village, the village is “located on the same axis as Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City in the north”, about 50 kilometers from the center of Beijing. On the map, Xiangtang Village is located near the central axis of Beijing, which runs through the Forbidden City.
Cai Xia, a retired professor from the Central Party School of the Communist Party in exile in the United States, recently tweeted, “It is said that a ‘high person’ read feng shui for Emperor Xi to do the planning of the capital, saying that the houses in Xiangtang Village are pressing on the dragon vein’s qi mouth, so the houses were forcibly demolished.” Cai Xia questioned, “Doesn’t the Chinese Communist Party claim to be materialist and atheistic?”
Some analysts believe that Cai Qi, the secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, “dared to fight to the death” in order to be promoted to the Standing Committee of the Central Committee at the 20th Communist Party Congress, and he went out of his way to evict the “low-end population” and owners of small property rights houses during the cold winter season to show his eagerness to protect his master. But in reality, the objective effect is to create another “humanitarian disaster” and “discredit Xi Jinping“.
A little more than two months ago, Communist Party leader Xi Jinping publicly stated that he would comprehensively improve the construction of a safe and secure China and continuously enhance the people’s sense of access, happiness and security. In his 2019 New Year’s message, the general secretary reiterated that he is “always mindful of the needy.”
Scholars: The consequences of forced demolition are comparable to the armed struggle of the Cultural Revolution
In recent years, there have been frequent cases of owners of small property rights houses being demolished as “illegal constructions” across China. In the past year, Beijing has been forcibly demolishing villas built in the countryside in Changping District and Huairou District on the grounds of “protecting the ecological environment” without compensation. In some cases, officials will assist owners who agree to move or temporarily relocate.
In the past year, in Beijing and elsewhere, the homes of owners of the Jiuhua Agricultural Science Demonstration Park in Xiaotangshan Township, Changping District, a number of small property communities in Wajao, Changping District, Yayuan and the Old Beijing Courtyard in Qiaozi Township, Huairou District, Hanbi House in Qingdao, and Nansanpo in Hebei have been razed and in some cases are still being cleared, with tens of thousands of people being demolished.
Among all the “illegal structures” that have been cleared, the most famous remediation project is the large villa complex in Qinling, which Xi Jinping ordered six times in six years before it was finally knocked down. During a recent visit to the area, the Communist Party leader called Qinling “the ancestral lineage of the Chinese nation and an important symbol of Chinese culture. The case of the Qinling villas led to an earthquake in Shaanxi’s official circles, with a number of party and government officials, including former provincial party secretary Zhao Zhengyong, being severely investigated and punished.
On Dec. 12, Fang Liufang, a well-known Chinese law scholar, compared the frequent demolition of “illegal structures” in China to the military battles of the Cultural Revolution, noting in a Sina Weibo post that the “illegal structures” being demolished today are as violent as the military battles of the Cultural Revolution, which took place decades ago. The decades of “legal system construction” are gone. He said that the “historical legacy” of the Cultural Revolution is still being torn apart.
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