Tag Archives: redevelopment

changling village: spring festival traditions

Posted on by

Tonight, I was one of roughly 2,000 people who welcomed spring in Changling Village (长岭村) by eating pencai together. Like a wedding banquet, a pencai banquet constitutes society table by table. The hosts were the 40-odd families who belong to the village, and their guests came from the Hong Kong side of the family, affines from neighboring villages, friends, street office officials, and representatives from the developer who aims to transform Changling into high end real estate on the Shenzhen River.  Continue reading →

baishizhou demolition: the rising cost of shenzhen dreaming

Posted on by

Yesterday, I heard this story: A 30-something farmer from Lanzhou came to Shenzhen in 2013 in order to make his fortune. He started out working for a relative in a Lanzhou Noodle Shop, and then after a few months decided to open his own noodle shop. After looking around for a suitable place, he decided to purchase the rental rights to a noodle shop in Baishizhou, on the western side of Shahe Road. The shop had been recently renovated and came with a hefty transfer fee—180,000 rmb with a high rent. But the man was enthusiastic. So he sold his homestead land (宅基地) as an initial investment and moved his family to Baishizhou, where they worked. Only his youngest son went to school, while his oldest didn’t go to high school so he could work in the shop. As the last of the buildings in the Shahe Industrial Park are being demolished, he is being forced out without any compensation and no way back home. Continue reading →

hubei: recognizing “value”

Posted on by

The current focus on preserving Hubei Old Village obscures just how much Special Zone history and everyday life will be demolished to make way for the new China Resources development downtown. What’s at stake are competing understandings of what makes a good life for whom and who gets to decide the form and function of the city. Continue reading →

baishizhou demolition scheduled

Posted on by

The demolition of the Shahe Industrial Park, Baishizhou (located west of Shahe Road) has been scheduled for April 30, 2016. The six-story factories are owned and managed by Shahe Enterprises and occupied by mid-size business owners. This area is the easiest to raze because it has a single property owner.

The image is from the ongoing “Don’t Raze Baishizhou Photography Exhibition” which meets every Saturday to photography Baishizhou’s residents and garner attention for the call for more equitable redevelopment.

baishizhou: withering practices

Posted on by

The process of uprooting the northern section of Baishizhou has begun through withering practices–the removal of social nutrients in order to promote razing and evacuations as inevitable, necessary, desired. Continue reading →