Modern cities can't be built on the backs of the powerless
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Recently a letter written by an official concerning forced demolition in Yihuang county, Jiangxi Province, which argues that forced demolition is the key to China's urbanization, has stirred wide public discussion.
As a matter of fact, hasty demolition has so many side effects that will be a drag on the process of urbanization in the long run for China.
With the rapid process of urbanization nationwide, housing demolitions are necessary and can not be avoided at the local level. However, if demolition is carried out by force, ignoring the basic rights of the house owners, it would definitely run counter to the intentions of the government.
Nowadays, it seems that many areas of life and work in China have been overwhelmed by the speed of change, especially those around demolition and construction.
Experts believe that China cannot afford an over-hasty urbanization process, especially one characterized by forced demolitions. Urbanization touches on too many other aspects of society. The said letter distorted the facts about urbanization in China by wrongly claiming that every citizen benefits from demolition by force.
Urbanization involves demolition, but not necessarily by force, which goes against the people-orientated nature of modern government in China.
It also ignores that urbanization should be controlled by strict regulations that govern the demolition and compensation process. Without this, the unfair treatment of dispossessed householders will inevitably result in conflict, social discontent, and even deaths. It is tragic that the house owners in Yihuang immolated themselves to prevent their houses being demolished. Even sadder, however, is that local officials did not recognize their own faults, but instead came back with pale arguments.
The Property Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted in 2007, stipulates that the private property of citizens can not be infringed upon, unless there's an overwhelming public interest, in which case there should be full compensation.
Moreover, in the letter, the official outlined some GDP gains and other "achievements" of the top officials in Yihuang to help evade their responsibility for this self-immolation case, which he called the price of development.
We have to pay a price for China's urbanization and development, but not this kind of price.
