True Defiance: A Glimpse into the Lives of Suzhou's "Nail House" Owners

True Defiance: A Glimpse into the Lives of Suzhou's "Nail House" Owners
Jul 19, 2013 By eChinacities.com

Editor’s note: “Dingzihu” or nail houses, is a term for households that refuse to relocate during demolition causing the original home to “stick out” amidst the new development. Fascinating and heart-breaking at the same time, such nail houses are not uncommon in China, where overnight a new highway may well take the place of a hundred-year old village. On July 7, Chinese media documented the latest defiant couple unwilling to leave their two story house in Suzhou. The following photo report offers a glimpse into the life of woman who would not let herself be bullied out of her home.

On July 7, a journalist visited a new housing compound called Ruijing International in Wujiang District, Suzhou. Looking over from the 19th floor of a building near the entrance, one could clearly see an old house refusing to be demolished amid a sea of luxury villas.

Left of this residence is a man-made landscape creek. In addition to the creek, there’s also a 2-meter wall in front of the house. The other two sides of the house are flanked by iron boarding. The building originally belonged to Lingzhenpangyang Village and was one of ten clusters of housing. In 2006 the owners, an elderly couple, were notified of the village’s demolition and the land was auctioned off to developers. However, when the time came to talk about compensation and demolition a conflict of interest arose and the couple refused to give their consent. With time, the disagreements intensified and no compromise was reached.

Even though negotiations failed, the developer went ahead with his plans anyway. As the developer ploughed ahead and more and more houses cropped up all around them, it became increasingly difficult to enter and exit from their premises. “In the past, before a wall surrounded the entire estate, we were still able to leave through the compound. But later the developer built a wall, dug out a creek and erecting boarding all around, hindering us from getting out,” said Mrs. Zhuang, the resilient owner of the “nail house”.

Mrs. Zhuang usually rides a three-wheeled cart selling her own home-grown vegetables. She tells the journalist that she has to cross through the actual creek now every time she wants to come and go, cart in toe and all. Recently, heavy rains have raised the water levels of the creek, forcing Mrs. Zhuang to struggle through knee-deep water. The only way she makes it through safely is by feeling for rocks to walk on at the bottom of the creek. “Sometimes the bottom of the creek is very slippery. When I walk through it, I try to find rocks on the bed to avoid slipping in.”

Each time she returns to her home, Mrs. Zhuang must wash her dirty feet with water from the well outside her house.

Meanwhile, her husband is too frail to battle his way out and stays put in the house all day as a result. After a day’s work of selling vegetables, Mrs. Zhuang cares for her husband.

Neighbors help her tend to her vegetable garden as she can’t handle all the work on her own. Mrs. Zhuang explains that things aren’t too bad right now because it’s summer. But as for how to deal with the situation in the winter, Mrs. Zhuang has no idea.

For a list of China’s “toughest” nail houses check out this article.

Source: gmw.cn

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Keywords: Suzhou nail house

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