Amidst the bitter cold, Beijing and Changping District authorities continue to carry out forced demolitions in the Xiangtang Cultural Village, which was once officially promoted as an exemplary village, despite strong public condemnation and questions, as well as the opposition and protests of the owners, and have resorted to illegal forced evictions such as cutting off water and electricity and piped gas supply in the dead of winter, and sending a large number of security guards to block 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 the incident, which has been described as a “humanitarian disaster” by the owners concerned.
According to international media reports on Dec. 19, videos circulating online show property owners in Heungtang Village’s District 9, District 10 and Old District 4, who have been cut off from water and electricity, persisting in their struggle to defend their rights under harsh and difficult conditions. Security guards in dark uniforms are lined up with riot shields to fortify the perimeter, and red banners with slogans such as “Resolutely stop the black and evil forces” are hanging from the fence.
Cai Xia, a retired professor of the Central Party School of the Communist Party in exile in the United States, tweeted recently that “it is said that a ‘high person’ read feng shui for Emperor Xi to do the planning of the capital, and said that the houses in Xiangtang Village had pressed the dragon vein and demolished the houses by force.” Cai Xia questioned, “Doesn’t the Chinese Communist Party claim to be materialist and atheistic?”
Some analysts believe that the Beijing municipal party secretary, in a bid to be promoted to the Standing Committee of the Central Committee at the 20th Communist Party Congress, has shown his eagerness to protect his master by evicting the “low-end population” and owners of small property rights houses during the cold winter season.
In recent years, there have been many cases of owners of small property rights houses being demolished as “illegal structures”. In the past year, Beijing has carried out forced demolitions of villas built in the countryside in Changping and Huairou districts on the grounds of “protecting the ecological environment,” without compensation or, in some cases, by assisting owners who agreed to cooperate in moving or In some cases, officials will assist owners who agree to move or temporarily relocate.
In the past year, in Beijing and elsewhere, homes in Jiuhua Agricultural Science Demonstration Park in Xiaotangshan Township, Changping District, a number of small property communities including Wajao in Changping District, Yayuan and the Old Beijing Courtyard in Qiaozi Township, Huairou District, Hanbilou 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.
Recent Comments