In a "nation" where newborn girl INFANTS are killed so idiotic CHINKS
can try for a BOY, the ruthless bulldozing of people's houses to make
way for the soon-to-be-BOYCOTTED Olympics seems positively mild by
comparison.
But such "take-it-or-leave-it" attitudes are TYPICAL of China in
general and its COMMUNIST SLAVE MASTERS in particular!
If such things were attempted in CIVILIZED, human-populated countries
like the United States or those in the European Union, the actions
would be stopped before they could begin -- because of the RULE OF
LAW! But LAW is a governmental feature that is totally lacking in
Chinkyland, where Beijing (The Fecal-Colored City) is removing all
impediments to the construction of its Potemkin Village.
It's very possible that some naive visitors to the Olympics -- should
the boycott fail -- would actually believe that "this is the way
Beijing looks and has always looked!"
China's Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction, Heuf N'
Puef, told a group of visiting prison officials from Myanmar, "We make
no apologies for taking of houses to create our gorgeous Olympic
Village. Like Westerners say, 'Image is everything.'
"We grant to those whose homes are leveled the equivalent of $31.56
U.S., enough to buy some cardboard and maybe a refrigerator crate to
build a new house for the family, somewhere. What more could these
ciphers want?"
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"In Beijing, No Answer to The Bulldozer"
By Jill Drew
Wa****ngton Post Foreign Service
Saturday, April 26, 2008; A08
BEIJING, April 25 -- Su Xiangyu realized his house would be the next
to face the bulldozer when a beefy man pulled up a crate and sat down
near Su's front door last Friday. The man didn't say anything. Just
sat and smoked. Watched Su and waited.
"He showed up after Wang Lianmin's house was demolished," said Su,
squinting as he scanned the field of dirt and rubble that used to be a
community of more than 550 families.
Su, Wang and another neighbor were the last three holdouts to fight
for their families' homes against developers who own rights to this
land, just across the street from the main Olympic park in Beijing.
The three have now been forced to join the thousands of people --
housing advocates say hundreds of thousands -- whose homes have been
plowed under in the rush of Olympics-related construction over the
past seven years.
Less than four months before the Summer Games open, the forced
relocations in Beijing are highlighting another cost of the Olympics,
as residents make way for such architectural glories as the National
Stadium, known as the bird's nest, and the apartment and office towers
springing up nearby. Whole neighborhoods have been wiped out.
Especially controversial has been the destruction of about 800 of the
city's 1,200 hutongs, lanes full of traditional, courtyard-style
houses.
Beijing real estate prices are soaring, but residents are often
blocked from realizing the full value of their homes when the
government orders them out. Many complain that compensation levels set
by authorities are far below market rates, making it impossible for
them to find comparable housing elsewhere.
"You can never win when you sue the government," said Su, who fought
in the courts for more than three years after he and his neighbors
received their first demolition notices on March 7, 2005. He refused
to accept the developer's settlement offer even after most of the
others had done so.
By the end of 2006, only 12 families were left in what was once
Yangshan Village. One by one, their houses began to be demolished.
Su's ex-wife, who still lives with him, recently began pressing him to
settle. The neighborhood had become a construction zone, and things
were starting to feel unsafe. On April 1, the water was cut off.
Su had lost again in court, but he did not want to give up. He visited
his great-grandfather's grave, seeking a sign.
"I am full of feelings for this land," he said. "I was born here. My
family was all here."
Then, on Thursday last week, Su watched as Wang and his family were
forced from their home. Then a demolition crew, backed by 30 police
officers and guards, razed the house.
Later that day, Su found the silent visitor on his doorstep. On
Wednesday, he agreed to settle and began moving out. The bulldozer
arrived the next day.
Beijing's North Star group, which owns the rights to develop the land,
has designated the area around Su's home as a future park, part of a
luxury "green home" project. The company is one of the main developers
in Beijing's Chaoyang district, where most of the Olympic venues have
been built.
Two North Star officials, who would not give their names, declined to
comment specifically on the evictions. They said the company followed
all the district government's regulations concerning removal of
residents and adequate compensation.
North Star workers are busy planting hundreds of trees and fini****ng
grand marble entrances to what signs now call Yangshan Park.
Villagers wonder, given the land's value, whether their former
neighborhood will remain a park after the Games are over. The land is
just across the street from the new Forest Park in the main Olympic
complex. Forest Park is already twice the size of New York's Central
Park.
Meanwhile, luxury apartments on sale in the area go for the equivalent
of roughly $270 per square foot. The final village holdout, Sun
Yongliang, is being offered $57.
"That is not enough money," Sun fumed, arranging tree branches on his
roof Thursday that he plans to torch when bulldozers arrive.
Zheng Minzhi, an official in the Chaoyang Housing Administrative
Department, said the district has approved a forced demolition permit
for Sun's house.
"I know this is hopeless," said Chen Zengxia, 34, one of Sun's
relatives, zipping up a red jacket against the wind. "But I have no
regret. There's not one farmer who fought back against the Chaoyang
district. That's why they bully us so much."
The next day, in Guanxizhuang Village, across Forest Park, a few
people did fight back when workers arrived to demolish their run-down
brick homes, not far from the Olympic Green National Tennis Center. A
Chaoyang district official said that the government wants to build
grasslands and playgrounds there and that the villagers would be
compensated.
A man and a woman tried to protect one home by throwing bricks at
guards trying to grab them from their roof, but they were tackled,
bound and taken away. A handful of police, backed by dozens of hired
guards, municipal officials and a demolition crew, kept 200 or so
villagers at bay and attempted to block photos of the confrontations.
One villager who tried to film the events was dragged off.
"Are we going to host the Olympic Games this way?" a woman shouted.
"To force civilians to move away?"
[Researcher Liu Liu contributed to this re****t.]
http://www.wa****ngtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/25/AR2008042503503.html
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