A court fights for its independence

the Chongqing nailhouse

ESWN translates a great feature story in the Southern weekend that uses interviews with the main parties involved in this the cause of the Chongqing nail house, including Mrs Wu Ping. It is a great case study on change in China, but I want to stress one interesting element: the Jiulongpo district court director Zhang Li, is one of the main players in this drama.

He said that the pressure of the "nail house affair" was something "he had never encountered in forty years of living and may be a once-in-a-life-time thing."

Zhang Li had just started his job in this district on March 17 and got a crash course in media relations and discovered the power of the internet:

"At the time, I felt that it was a troublesome thing to deal with the media. I was afraid that I might say something wrong. I turned down media interviews. In retrospect, I can frankly say that I regret that." Almost a month later, he reflected to the reporter.

Zhang Li effectively refuses to join press conferences with the local government. He insists that his court should remain independent and throws himself into some arguments. He gets support:

As district party secretary, Zheng Hong recognized this. "In other countries, government officials and judges will not sit down together. But foreign reporters do not understand party leadership in China." In the end, the court held its own press conferences. Similarly, when the government held its own press conferences, the court did not participate.

Hectic scenes display at the government offices and many officials, including Zhang Li have sleepless nights. He has to oversee the negotiations, since his relative independence as a newcomer in the district. Chongqing was able to avoid a worst-case scenario.
Really worth to read the whole article.

A new nail house in Shenzhen

Isn't it a beauty? Simon World cuts-and-pasts from the otherwise unlinkable South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Mr. Choi and this wife got inspiration from the earlier success in Chongqing:

He admits he has been inspired by a Chongqing couple who held out for 11 days, while their house stood on a mound in the middle of 10-metre-deep pit, until the developers paid up. "The couple is my model. I'm sure I will win this battle as they did," Mr Choi said of the pair, whose home was dubbed the "coolest nail house" - slang for holdouts who refuse to be hammered down while their houses stand erect like nails after those around are demolished.

Xiamen citizens fight against chemical plant

Citizens at Xiamen island fight against a huge chemical plant near their city center, John Kennedy reports at Global Voices. Desperate appeals appear on the internet:

The voices of the people will always have their limit. That the local government values GDP so highly and takes protecting the environment so lightly will be the sorrow of our grandchildren!We’re telling the truth. Central government, please save us. Save the hard-earned fruits of our labors! Save the homes in which we so tiredly live!

Deal on Chongqing house

Yee reports that China's most famous house, the nailhouse in Chongqing, is now being demolished after a deal has been reached.

New deadline for Chongqing nailhouse

Josie Liu points at her (fairly new) weblog at the press conference by Huang Yun, the Chongqing districthead in charge of China's most famous house. At the picture he shows how beautiful the area is going to be after the nailhouse has been removed.

Huang announced a new deadline for demolishion: April 10, the third time a court has issued such an order.

Mr. Yang and his wife Wu Ping have refused to accept more than 2.4 million yuan ($300,000) of cash the developer would pay to them, but asked for an unit of the same position and area as their current property in the new business compound to be built on the same location, which happened to be a major commercial area in the city.

Chongqing nailhouse gets a music clip

(h/t China Blog)
According to the latest, the stand-off is still ongoing.

Chongqing house hit by publication ban

The State Council Information office has banned all publications on the Chongqing house. Chongqing media were already forbidden to report about the house, but now all national media have to comply. From Ziji Space Blog, translated by CDT.

All domestic print press have received urgent notices from the State Council Information Office at 1:30 pm, March 24, no more reporting and commenting on the "nailhouse" event. All domestic online media also received urgent notices from the Information Office of State Council at 1:45 pm, March 24, no more reporting and commenting on the "nailhouse" event. All news related to this event must be pushed to the backend. All special feature pages are deleted. All comments function on this news are closed. By 2 pm the same day, all internet portals including sina, netease, sohu and QQ have deleted their special reporting pages on this story.

More at China Digital Times.

Spoofing the Chongqing house struggle

Yan Bing, the husband of Wu Ping, has now also reached celebrity status. Another pick up from Global Voices.

Mrs Wu Ping receives the media

Citizens report from the Chongqing site

John Kennedy documents for Global Voices the fallout on the internet of the Chongqing house of Mrs Wu Ping.
Many first hand reports from citizens who went to the place themselves.

I just got back from the scene. It’s not as busy there as I’d imagined, about two-three hundred Chongqing residents standing nearby on the bridge, on the railway track, supporting old Yang, just sixty to eighty meters away from old Yang’s fortress! Someone named Lin is down there organizing everyone to shout to old Yang, ‘be brave..!’ Old Yang flashed the flashlight over a few times in response! Old Yang is staying strong, keeping calm!

Who needs TV here?

the Chongqing house

Also Mr. Wuping now jumps into action

Venture 160 is on top of things after he earlier today translated the CCTV-interview with Mrs. Wuping, now he has the story (and the picture) on Mr. Yang Wuping who has re-occupied the house, waving the Chinese flag from the roof.

Now the Wuping's have secured the help of the central government in their struggle, the case is fast becoming a dimension faster. Without doubts there will be thousands of potential Wuping's watching this repport, where the central and local political forces collide, rush out to buy a flag and wait for a crew of CCTV to arrive. This mouse is going to have a very long tail.

A network of grass-root activism

AP gives a good overview of a new movement in social activism taking root in China. Last week's massive protest against the spike in fares for public transportation in Hunan province provided a good example on how local protest and a network of more professional organizers work together.

The movement — known as rights defense or "wei quan" in Chinese — took root in 2003, after police beat to death a young college graduate who was not carrying his residency papers. The government bowed to public outrage and curbed police powers for arbitrary detention, an unusual restraint to official authority and a move that energized socially conscious lawyers and scholars.

What is remarkable is their profound difference from their predecessors, the so-called 'dissidents' of the 1990s. They have no political target, like setting up a political party or overthrowing the government - a target no government would really appreciate. They go for issues where they would often find the central government at their side. Often they focus at the local conflicts between the citizens and their local governments, concerning AIDS, urban development, problems with elections and environmental protection.

A day later, Zhang [one of the organizers involved in the Hunan protest] says he was taken to dinner by provincial security agents and government officials, who warned him against talking to reporters.
Zhang remains unfazed, in part because he's not alone. He's part of the China Pan-Blue Alliance, a Web-based rights organization which started in 2005 and claims 2,000 registered members including college students, laid-off workers, teachers, journalists and lawyers.

Guanxi helps

A beautiful scene in Chongqing where obvious somebody has been very succesful in saving his or her house. Marc van der Chijs pointed at the picture and he has all the details.

picture from the scene (ESWN has more)

Spike in bus rates triggers off massive riot

Up to 20,000 people have been on the street protesting last Friday in Yongzhou, Hunan province, the BBC reports, after the government raised prices for public transportation. Nine police cars were burned in the protest.
According to a Hunan official in a comment to Reuters, here used in an ITV-report:

that the riot had been quelled and that scores of the rioters were arrested. Both police and rioters were injured in the violence, and some of the rioters were sent to hospital, but none was seriously hurt, the official added.

Updated: More reports are coming in, like here from AP. Not surprisingly ESWN has the most thorough overview. The account from the Chinese media are most interesting, but are not always giving the same information. Also, many pictures here. Some accounts say there has been one death and 60 injured.