From the Los Angeles Times:
The standoff in central China’s Chongqing municipality is nothing new. Government-backed development projects have been eating up private homes across the country, creating a wave of resistance as millions of residents are uprooted, with many complaining of unfair compensation or forced removal.
But since the National People’s Congress passed landmark legislation two weeks ago to protect private property rights, the nail house seems to have become a rallying point for a nation eager to see whether its communist leaders will pay more than lip service to what many see as a basic human right. [Full text]
Overseas Chinese newssite Boxun.com just published a short video on a very recent forced eviction case in Taiping Jie, Changsha, Hunan province. It is also on YouTube, uploaded by RFAvideo:
See also another two videos on the case of Xiaoguwei (2004), Guangdong province. In one of the clips, the owner, an American Chinese, was waving an American flag to protect his house. In the other clip, the owner of the house was playing a classic socialist song from the 1950s called “Socialism is Good” through a loudspeaker in front of eviction forces.
