Tearing Down Shanghai

Shanghai is changing rapidly and for many reasons. First there is new money and people want to move up, buy new homes. Lots of great real estate speculation and tons of new construction. Also Shanghai is getting ready for the World Expo, what use to be known as the Worlds Fair, and the government would like to have Shanghai look it's best, so out with the old.

During the time of Mao and all his various movements the one thing that was not done was create more/new housing for the people. From 1950 - 1970 the population in Shanghai went from 4 million to 10 million and no new housing. Instead, at the time, if you had a home with 6 rooms, 6 new families probably moved in, each family getting their very own room. Remember the government now owns everything, it is a Communist society. There was a common kitchen area and probably no toilets. The water source was outside the house, sort of a garden pipe. And yes your bathroom is a chamber pot. Not too many of these places left but I have seen a few. These homes were once beautiful and they were part of the architectural history of Shanghai. As the government began "leasing" land to real estate speculators and companies, old buildings were torn down and new high rises were being built. The government gives you money and a new home if your home (room in the home to be accurate) was torn down. This is a great deal! Sort of.... your new apartment has a 70 year lease. You have to leave after 70 years as the property reverts back to the government. But you get hard cash too - about $100,000. There is some formula to it all. Here is an interesting story about one case of begin "bought out".

The woman on the top floor is named Pan Yong. She lives in a four-story building with a living area of 480 square meters (about 5,000 sq ft.!) in the Minheng district of Shanghai. Both Pan Yong and her husband Zhang Qilong were born in this district. In the 1990’s, the couple went to study in New Zealand and obtained citizenship there. In 2004, the two returned to China. Zhang renovated the rural house of his father and moved in there. In 2008, Pan Yong received a notice of demolition from the Hongqiao Airport Traffic Centre. This disrupted the tranquil lives of this family.

According to the notice, their house lied within a construction zone and therefore they must move out because their house will be demolished. It was calculated that Pan Yong will receive 761 yuan per square meter for relocating the house and 1,480 yuan for land acquisition. In total, Pan Yong was going to receive a total of 673,000 yuan in compensation. This equals about $100,000.

Pan Yong said: “I told them that I will give them 700,000 yuan and they are supposed to buy a house that is more or less like mine. I told them to buy one for me. They said that it was impossible.”

Pan Yong lives in the Minheng district near the Hongqiao airport. The current housing prices in this area is as much as 15,000 yuan per square meet. Pan Yong’s house should also be able to fetch 4,000 yuan per month if rented out. Therefore, she thought that the compensation did not meet market level. The family decided that they will not sign the agreement because they won’t accept the assessment.

Pan Yong said: “You can’t take away my lamb and hand me back a chicken. You can’t just say that the chicken looks handsome and it can lay eggs, and expect me to take it. I don’t want it. This is unacceptable.”

Here are some pictures of what was once a very beautiful neighborhood.