The forced demolition of the Jiuhua Agricultural Science Demonstration Park in Xiaotangshan, Beijing, which has been going on for more than a month, continues to attract public attention. At present, half of the plot has been demolished by the authorities, but the remaining residents have decided to stick to the end.
The demolition of the Jiuhua Agricultural Science Demonstration Park in Xiaotangshan Town, Changping District, Beijing has been going on for more than a month since November 17. When the incident broke out, hundreds of black-clad men hired by the local government broke through residents’ barriers, occupied the neighborhood, destroyed the natural gas station with an excavator, and posted notices claiming that the neighborhood would be demolished in accordance with the Beijing Urban and rural Planning Regulations.
By early December, the district had been forcibly cut off from electricity and water, and 8-9 houses had also been demolished. At that time, there were still 300-400 people left in the neighborhood, which had more than 2,100 residents, who had to cut wood for heating and cooking in the cold winter. The men in black then posted the “Decision on Compulsory Demolition” issued by the Xiaotangshan town government on December 7 in the district, stating that it would start compulsory demolition of the district on December 14.
On December 29, the reporter again connected to interview the owners of the district, to understand the current situation of forced demolition in the district.
Mr. Zheng, the owner of the district, said that since mid-December, the excavator driven by the man in black is advancing step by step, and half of the buildings in the district have been demolished. Although some residents of the district resisted, but because they were outnumbered, they could not stop the advance of the men in black. He said, “Yesterday, a resident on Chang’an Road wrestled with those black security guards and was caught by them in the police station. Now the temperature at night is more than 10 degrees below zero, and there are probably 200-300 people staying behind, and some are on hunger strike.”
In the middle of the neighborhood, there is a red brick garden building called “Qing Shui Hui Hui”, designed by Dong Yu Gan, an architecture expert from Peking University. “Built in 2006, it consists of more than 20 interlocking courtyards and was nominated for the first China Architecture Media Award in 2008. According to the video provided by the district owner Mr. Song, on December 29, under the leadership of Huang Jun, the mayor of Xiaotangshan town neighboring Xingshou town, the demolition crew drove an excavator to demolish the “Qing Shui Huikan”.
In the video, the owner of the community who shot the video said: “This is a very timeless, classic work of architectural art. In the absence of a court ruling or a response to an administrative review, the government of Xingshou Township began to trample on the building and on this work of art. Let history remember this day, and let the judgment of history come one day earlier.”
Recently, Wu Jolai, a travel scholar, tweeted that according to informed sources, among those who occupied and razed the Jiuhua Agricultural Science Demonstration Park, the commanders were hired triad members; the black-clad security guards were farmers hired from outside the city. These farmers have signed a contract to “pay a deposit of 1,000 yuan” and to pay for their own travel expenses from their hometown to Beijing. As for their wages, they will not be settled until the eve of the Spring Festival in 2021.
In the face of the demolition of the men in black, the owners of the community, Mr. Zheng said that the community will be left behind in the end: “more than 20 years of hard work so ruined, we are very desperate, but will persist to the end.”
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