A familiar sort of populism, from the ground (literally) up

NYT story that warms my heart:  average Chinese citizens getting uppity over development issues--or the real estate sort.

When China’s land boom excited a frenzy of popular resistance late last year — including headline-grabbing suicides by people routed from their homes — Chinese policy makers finally proposed a solution: rules to protect citizens from unchecked development and to fairly compensate the evicted.

Today in Laogucheng, a dingy warren of apartments and shops slated for redevelopment on Beijing’s far west side, the fruits of that effort are on vivid display: a powerful developer is racing to demolish the neighborhood before the rules are passed. And about 700 gritty homeowners are adamantly refusing to move until they get the fair deal they hope the rules will provide.

“This is a limbo period,” one holdout, Tian Hongyan, 49, said after a stroll amid the rubble of his half-bulldozed neighborhood. “And during it, we’re seeing even more sudden and violent demolitions occur around the country.”

China is not a good setting for a Frank Capra tale, but people do have influence over their autocratic masters. Top officials are worried that the property rush — which has led to soaring prices for urban real estate and low prices for old homes and farmland seized for development — is enriching local governments and well-connected developers at the expense of ordinary people and social stability.

Protests like those in Laogucheng — including self-immolations and deadly standoffs — have forced officials to at least consider measures to make it harder to seize property and turn it over to developers without fully compensating those who live on it or use it. 

The lack of rules is the usual suspect, and nastiness ensues:

Without updated rules, local governments pick renewal sites at will, then leave negotiations with residents to developers, demolition companies and low-level “demolition and relocation offices.” They frequently low-ball home-purchase offers, cut off utilities and even hire gangs of thugs to terrorize homeowners.

Powerless to stay and too poor to move, many Chinese have rebelled.

As usual, the Party is forced to choose and/or balance between growth and angering the population too much.