Jan 18th, 2016: Nail Houses

[xoxoxoBruce]

You know how big old houses have a foyer where you could talk to people without them actually coming into the house proper? Well when China decided the path to riches and power was trading with the outside world, they chose certain coastal cities act like foyers, which would keep foreigners from traipsing though the house willy nilly. One of the chosen is Shanghai, and it would take more than hanging nice curtains and a cool rug. Cue severe urban renewal. With Chinese efficiency, knock down the city and build a new modern(western looking) one. But some people didn't want to trade their houses for an apartment in a concrete high rise, they wanted to stay in their "nail house".

The photographer calls these often dilapidated homes Nail Houses because, similar to old nails driven into a slab of wood, they are intractable. Despite pressures from developers, these homeowners have stubbornly and steadfastly held on the their properties, protecting them from certain demolition in the face of rapid urbanization.

When a house is set to be razed, explains the photographer, it’s marked by the same white chalk that has announced the leveling of countless homes and historically significant neighborhoods. Shanghai, in its haste to keep up with metropolitan behemoths like Beijing, has replaced time-honored, traditional housing with cosmopolitan high-rise apartments. For the owners of the Nail Houses, their longtime homes are more valuable than what’s offered for their properties, and by standing up, persisting and holding fast to what matters most to them, they risk eviction and forcible removal.

Thanks to the perseverance of these citizens, the government now grants private real estate the same protection under law as public property, meaning that people now have legal means to demand fair compensation for their homes.

Makes me wonder if these people want to stay where the family has lived for generations, or is it about Mo Money?
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