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Public barred from a public lake
By Wang Yong |
September 14, 2010, Tuesday
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A CITY lake has disappeared from public view, not because of drought or pollution, but because of private enclosure (Changjiang Daily, September 11).
Rings and rings of villas have almost walled in the 0.311-square-kilometer Tazi Lake, the biggest lake in the center of Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.
Last Friday, a sales woman in the villa "empire" proudly told a group of environmentalists and reporters disguised as home buyers: "This lake is ours. We will circle it air tight with villas. You need to be a home owner here to come in. If you do not own a property here, you are out."
These disguised home buyers quipped: "Have you bought the whole lake?" The arrogant sales agent paled, admitting the developer had not bought the lake itself, but she insisted that the developer had the right to "maintain and protect" the lake.
The villas have enclosed about three quarters of the lake, with the remaining quarter temporarily closed off by wood bridges. "Next year this lake may be totally closed to fishing for fun," grumbled a 64-year-old man surnamed Zhang, who was fishing near a bulldozer by the wood bridges.
This is the death of a public lake in a socialist country. It may continue to exist, but it has become de facto "private."
According to the Changjiang Daily, some businesses began to invest in cleaning up the lake in 2004 and then built real estate projects around it. Now the villas have risen from the shore but the lake is far from clean, said the newspaper. One can safely infer that investment in cleaning up the lake in the past six years was largely a fake, at least a farce.
For as long as six years, the government has allowed the developer to have its own way. In as short a period as six years, a public lake has been virtually privatized. A sales slogan at the villa "empire" reads: "Many aspire to the lake area, but only a few have it."
It's no news that public interests have often collapsed into a few private hands in these times that encourage a few to get rich first and fast. What is news is that these few nouveau riches are being increasingly tolerated by the government in their open contempt for common prosperity in a land that myriad martyrs died in the battle for egality.
A big-mouthed real estate tycoon in Beijing has famously said that he would build houses only for the rich. You hardly hear such nonsense even in the West where capitalism rules.
In today's two other opinion articles, you see how inequality has grown at a swift and disturbing pace in both China and America. But in America, no politically correct businessman would dare say that he works only for the rich. That would end his career.
Why does China now allow commercial ads or public speeches that openly demean or demonize the poor and the underprivileged? One answer lies in a bizarre and disquieting alliance between businesses and bureaucracy. Xinhua yesterday compared the "business-bureaucracy alliance" to a tumor in a fair society. The official news agency said such an alliance was by no means isolated in China.
Good. Public opinion knows what's wrong. But will public opinion fall upon deaf private ears?
Rings and rings of villas have almost walled in the 0.311-square-kilometer Tazi Lake, the biggest lake in the center of Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.
Last Friday, a sales woman in the villa "empire" proudly told a group of environmentalists and reporters disguised as home buyers: "This lake is ours. We will circle it air tight with villas. You need to be a home owner here to come in. If you do not own a property here, you are out."
These disguised home buyers quipped: "Have you bought the whole lake?" The arrogant sales agent paled, admitting the developer had not bought the lake itself, but she insisted that the developer had the right to "maintain and protect" the lake.
The villas have enclosed about three quarters of the lake, with the remaining quarter temporarily closed off by wood bridges. "Next year this lake may be totally closed to fishing for fun," grumbled a 64-year-old man surnamed Zhang, who was fishing near a bulldozer by the wood bridges.
This is the death of a public lake in a socialist country. It may continue to exist, but it has become de facto "private."
According to the Changjiang Daily, some businesses began to invest in cleaning up the lake in 2004 and then built real estate projects around it. Now the villas have risen from the shore but the lake is far from clean, said the newspaper. One can safely infer that investment in cleaning up the lake in the past six years was largely a fake, at least a farce.
For as long as six years, the government has allowed the developer to have its own way. In as short a period as six years, a public lake has been virtually privatized. A sales slogan at the villa "empire" reads: "Many aspire to the lake area, but only a few have it."
It's no news that public interests have often collapsed into a few private hands in these times that encourage a few to get rich first and fast. What is news is that these few nouveau riches are being increasingly tolerated by the government in their open contempt for common prosperity in a land that myriad martyrs died in the battle for egality.
A big-mouthed real estate tycoon in Beijing has famously said that he would build houses only for the rich. You hardly hear such nonsense even in the West where capitalism rules.
In today's two other opinion articles, you see how inequality has grown at a swift and disturbing pace in both China and America. But in America, no politically correct businessman would dare say that he works only for the rich. That would end his career.
Why does China now allow commercial ads or public speeches that openly demean or demonize the poor and the underprivileged? One answer lies in a bizarre and disquieting alliance between businesses and bureaucracy. Xinhua yesterday compared the "business-bureaucracy alliance" to a tumor in a fair society. The official news agency said such an alliance was by no means isolated in China.
Good. Public opinion knows what's wrong. But will public opinion fall upon deaf private ears?
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