Beijing launches demolition drive, this time in its bucolic suburbs
The people who would destroy the village came in the middle of the night last week. Hundreds of guards breached the wall surrounding the village and began banging on the doors of the 140 courtyard homes there, waking residents and handing them notices to get out.
Many tried to protest but were subdued by the guards, and by this week, the demolition was in full swing. Backhoes moved house by house, laying waste to a community called Xitai that was built in a plush green valley on the northern edge of Beijing, only a short walk from the Great Wall of China.
“This was a sneak attack to move when we were unprepared,” said Sheng Hong, one of the residents.
The destruction of the village, one of several unfolding on the suburban edges of Beijing this summer, reflects the corruption at the murky intersection of politics and the economy in China. What is perfectly acceptable one year can suddenly be deemed illegal the next, leaving communities and families vulnerable to the vagaries of policy under the country’s leader, Xi
Jinping.
Back when these developments were built, turbocharging China’s economy was priority No. 1 and many were blessed by local governments. Now, led by Beijing’s paramount leader, Cai Qi, the local authorities have declared that the projects in fact violated laws intended to protect the environment and agricultural land.
This summer of demolitions follows previous campaigns to “beautify” Beijing’s historic alleyway neighborhoods, known as hutongs, and to clear away migrant neighborhoods.
A common denominator of all these campaigns is that the people most affected have virtually no recourse once the government determines a policy.
“There is no hope under this system,” said Paul Wu, who leased a home in Wayaocun, another village about 30 miles west of Xitai. Demolitions began there in late June, targeting six developments now declared a blight on the countryside.
The risk of such blunt government actions lies in sowing resentment and distrust of the Communist Party state, even among those in a rising middle class who have benefited most from the country’s economic transformation. The demolitions have set off at least three clashes between protesters and police officers in riot gear wielding tear gas and pepper spray.
The impetus for the latest campaign, which began just as the country was emerging from the worst of the pandemic, remains unclear. Sheng, the Xitai resident who is also a prominent economist, said the campaigns were driven by political — not economic or environmental — motives.
He cited Xi’s well-publicized anger in 2018 over the construction of illegal villas in the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi province. Since then, Xi has raised the issue of protecting green space on a number of occasions, creating pressure on local officials to demonstrate fealty by responding vigorously.
“The local officials are in a contest to see who can demolish the most,” Sheng said. “Nobody will punish you for demolishing more, but if you demolish less, you could go to prison.”