Families return to devastation
By Zhang Xuanchen |
February 14, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
There was a shock homecoming for some people living in Sanya City after the Spring Festival holiday.
The people who had lived in one of the largest slum areas of the city in the southern Hainan Province found only rubble when they returned. They have been left homeless, and jobless, after a massive government demolition project.
Some 2,000 residents of Fenghuang Township, most of whom made a living by raising pigs, went back to Danzhou City on the island province to spend the Chinese New Year with their families.
But on their return, they learned that their houses and pigsties had been torn down in a demolishing work that begun on January 19.
Yesterday, some of them were still living on the site, eating food and washing their clothes on what was now a wasteland, Xinhua news agency reported.
They said they didn't know of a better way or place to make a living.
Most used to grow grain crops in Danzhou, but found it increasingly hard to make ends meet due to worsening land conditions.
In the 1990s, they moved to Fenghuang Township in Sanya to build homes and pigpens, Xinhua reported.
The unauthorized buildings, which harbored some 308 households, covered an area of almost 30,000 square meters and became the largest slum area in Sanya.
"I am at loss about my future. I can't return to farming at my birthplace in Danzhou, where the land is salty and doesn't grow anything," said a villager surnamed Liao.
Liu Shengyang, who stayed in Sanya for the holiday, complained that he had no place to sleep during the Chinese New Year. "Why did the government carry out the demolition just ahead of the holidays?" he said.
But city officials were unrepentant.
"They came here and built the shanty town illegally. So we don't need to think about their relocation," said Wang Rui'an, deputy head of Fenghuang Township.
Officials said the demolition was legal and reasonable. Sanya City authorities said they had told villagers to dismantle the illegal slum three times since last December. To make them leave, the government had even found buyers for their pigs.
The demolition date was determined by the government's concern over fire safety, a fire department official said.
Xu Lidan said the slum had many wood-burning stoves and a self-built power grid which made it a fire risk, particularly during the Spring Festival when people would be setting off firecrackers in celebration.
"Many young people went out for work in daytime, leaving children and the elderly at home. It would have been very dangerous if a fire occurred," Xu told Xinhua news agency.
The people who had lived in one of the largest slum areas of the city in the southern Hainan Province found only rubble when they returned. They have been left homeless, and jobless, after a massive government demolition project.
Some 2,000 residents of Fenghuang Township, most of whom made a living by raising pigs, went back to Danzhou City on the island province to spend the Chinese New Year with their families.
But on their return, they learned that their houses and pigsties had been torn down in a demolishing work that begun on January 19.
Yesterday, some of them were still living on the site, eating food and washing their clothes on what was now a wasteland, Xinhua news agency reported.
They said they didn't know of a better way or place to make a living.
Most used to grow grain crops in Danzhou, but found it increasingly hard to make ends meet due to worsening land conditions.
In the 1990s, they moved to Fenghuang Township in Sanya to build homes and pigpens, Xinhua reported.
The unauthorized buildings, which harbored some 308 households, covered an area of almost 30,000 square meters and became the largest slum area in Sanya.
"I am at loss about my future. I can't return to farming at my birthplace in Danzhou, where the land is salty and doesn't grow anything," said a villager surnamed Liao.
Liu Shengyang, who stayed in Sanya for the holiday, complained that he had no place to sleep during the Chinese New Year. "Why did the government carry out the demolition just ahead of the holidays?" he said.
But city officials were unrepentant.
"They came here and built the shanty town illegally. So we don't need to think about their relocation," said Wang Rui'an, deputy head of Fenghuang Township.
Officials said the demolition was legal and reasonable. Sanya City authorities said they had told villagers to dismantle the illegal slum three times since last December. To make them leave, the government had even found buyers for their pigs.
The demolition date was determined by the government's concern over fire safety, a fire department official said.
Xu Lidan said the slum had many wood-burning stoves and a self-built power grid which made it a fire risk, particularly during the Spring Festival when people would be setting off firecrackers in celebration.
"Many young people went out for work in daytime, leaving children and the elderly at home. It would have been very dangerous if a fire occurred," Xu told Xinhua news agency.
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