This is not the first case of road projects in China having to be built to “avoid” houses that refuse to relocate.
In 2020, the municipal government of Guangzhou, China, opened a highway bridge called Hai Zhuyong. This highway bridge quickly attracted a lot of attention when it split in half and bent part of the road. Nestled in the middle of that hole is a house that refuses to move. The home owner has refused to change his decision and now has to live with the noise of cars driving around the house 24/7.
This is not the first case of road projects in China having to be built to “avoid” houses that refuse to relocate. Houses whose owners refuse to move to support infrastructure development are called “nail houses”.
Because the homeowners are stubborn, developers have to build around those houses. Sometimes, they demolish part of the building and leave the rest intact. One of the most famous cases is the house in Wenling city. An elderly couple refused to move, so engineers had to build a road around their house.
For nail houses, the homeowner often refuses to receive compensation from the investor or the government. Sometimes, they ask for too large an amount, leading to disputes between parties.
Chinese media once recorded footage showing a woman’s house stuck in the middle of a 4-lane highway bridge in Guangzhou city.
Ms. Liang is the owner of this 40m2, tile-roofed, four-level house. Talking to reporters, she said that the owner did not compensate her for an ideal replacement house, because it was an apartment near the morgue. She is the only one out of 47 apartments and 7 companies remaining in this area. The others accepted the offer and moved out in September 2019.
The government made Ms. Liang many offers, but she refused them all. One of the largest compensations includes 2 other apartments and a cash payment of 1.3 million yuan (about 186,000 USD – equivalent to 4.5 billion VND). She requested compensation for up to 4 apartments and 2 million yuan (287,000 USD), an amount that everyone said was too large compared to her existing house.
After failing to reach an agreement, the local government had no choice but to change the original project, deciding to build a bridge around the nail house.
The story of the nail house that refused to be moved created a heated debate on social networks. Most users thought this woman was too greedy, but others also supported her decision.