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SHANGHAI: It will soon be the place where dreams come true, but at the moment Zhaohang village, on the outskirts of Shanghai, is where they are being crushed by the wrecker's ball.
What was a sleepy, semi-rural hamlet has been all but razed to make way for the city's Disney theme park, expected to be completed by 2014.
Shanghai is due to hand over the land to the American entertainment giant next month, but a handful of families and businesses are holding out, complaining of inadequate compensation and accusing officials and landlords of trying to cheat them out of their relocation payments.
"There is no point in talking to you. You can't help us," one dejected resident said, standing outside one of the few remaining "nail houses" amid the rubble. The retiree, who refused to give his name, then spoke at length about his family's continuing struggle with the authorities.
"We are not going anywhere, not until we get what we are owed," he said outside the building, part of a cluster of four intact homes and one partially demolished structure.
The family built the three-storey village house eight years ago to allow their son to move out with his wife and child. The original home lies about 500 metres away, across one of the area's many canals, barely visible from the newer plot but still within the demolition zone.
"The problem is that both houses are registered under my name, and my hukou [residency permit] is tied to the address of the old house," he said.
"The government is treating the new house as though it doesn't exist and says these are just two halves of one home. Look at the distance between the buildings - how can they be counted as one home? It's a trick to con us out of half the money we should be getting."
He said the seven-member family -- spanning three generations -- would not be able to fit in the single 32 sq mflat they had been offered in exchange for their home. "All the hundreds of thousands we have spent on this house have basically just been thrown on the rubbish heap," he said. "Altogether, it must have cost us 300,000 yuan (RM142,684) to build this house, but it seems it is all for nothing now."
He stepped over to the entrance of the home and absent-mindedly poked at where workers had recently knocked the edge off a marble step, a seemingly futile house-proud gesture amid the destruction.
His wife became distraught as she pleaded to be treated with fairness. "We didn't ask for this. The government chose this as the Disney site; they are the ones who want to demolish our homes," she said. "All we are asking for is our legal entitlement. We aren't trying to get rich."
After nearly a decade of negotiations, the Disney theme park was finally approved by Beijing last November, news that was announced with much fanfare in Shanghai.
However, the project has been dogged by controversy almost from the outset. And less than three weeks after its announcement, the official size of the park was confirmed - 116 hectares, just over a quarter of the four square kilometres predicted. Many in Shanghai were dumbfounded to discover the park would be even smaller than Hong Kong Disneyland, currently the smallest of the US giant's five parks worldwide.
There was further controversy in January when Shanghai delegates to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress questioned the park's financial viability in light of the HK$1.3 billion in losses posted by the Hong Kong park last year, and a study that showed 70% of theme parks on the mainland lose money.
Initially, many Zhaohang locals greeted the approval of the park with glee, believing they would earn big resettlement payments from the government.
But over the past six months, as the neighbourhood gradually crumbled beneath the demolition trucks, the initial joy quickly subsided.
"I don't think anyone was happy in the end," said a young woman working in one of the last shops. "People thought they were going to get huge amounts of money for their homes but they were very disappointed when they found out the truth. It was better for the locals, but outsiders like us got even less."
Further along the road, a noodle shop and a bicycle parts kiosk in a partially demolished building are all that remain of what was the settlement's main street. The noodle vendor, who has been running the shop for 15 years, told a similar story.
"Our landlord offered us 15,000 yuan in compensation," she said. "That is just a joke because I know he got a lot more than that. Where can I find another place for that measly amount of money?"
In the nearby Zhixiong supermarket - still open to sell daily necessities to the demolition teams - staff also professed ignorance about their future. "We don't know what's happening or when we are supposed to close down," said one of three bored-looking sales attendants. "The boss has said he will transfer us to another store but I don't know what part of Shanghai that will be in." -- South China Morning Post
What was a sleepy, semi-rural hamlet has been all but razed to make way for the city's Disney theme park, expected to be completed by 2014.
Shanghai is due to hand over the land to the American entertainment giant next month, but a handful of families and businesses are holding out, complaining of inadequate compensation and accusing officials and landlords of trying to cheat them out of their relocation payments.
"There is no point in talking to you. You can't help us," one dejected resident said, standing outside one of the few remaining "nail houses" amid the rubble. The retiree, who refused to give his name, then spoke at length about his family's continuing struggle with the authorities.
"We are not going anywhere, not until we get what we are owed," he said outside the building, part of a cluster of four intact homes and one partially demolished structure.
The family built the three-storey village house eight years ago to allow their son to move out with his wife and child. The original home lies about 500 metres away, across one of the area's many canals, barely visible from the newer plot but still within the demolition zone.
"The problem is that both houses are registered under my name, and my hukou [residency permit] is tied to the address of the old house," he said.
"The government is treating the new house as though it doesn't exist and says these are just two halves of one home. Look at the distance between the buildings - how can they be counted as one home? It's a trick to con us out of half the money we should be getting."
He said the seven-member family -- spanning three generations -- would not be able to fit in the single 32 sq mflat they had been offered in exchange for their home. "All the hundreds of thousands we have spent on this house have basically just been thrown on the rubbish heap," he said. "Altogether, it must have cost us 300,000 yuan (RM142,684) to build this house, but it seems it is all for nothing now."
He stepped over to the entrance of the home and absent-mindedly poked at where workers had recently knocked the edge off a marble step, a seemingly futile house-proud gesture amid the destruction.
His wife became distraught as she pleaded to be treated with fairness. "We didn't ask for this. The government chose this as the Disney site; they are the ones who want to demolish our homes," she said. "All we are asking for is our legal entitlement. We aren't trying to get rich."
After nearly a decade of negotiations, the Disney theme park was finally approved by Beijing last November, news that was announced with much fanfare in Shanghai.
However, the project has been dogged by controversy almost from the outset. And less than three weeks after its announcement, the official size of the park was confirmed - 116 hectares, just over a quarter of the four square kilometres predicted. Many in Shanghai were dumbfounded to discover the park would be even smaller than Hong Kong Disneyland, currently the smallest of the US giant's five parks worldwide.
There was further controversy in January when Shanghai delegates to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress questioned the park's financial viability in light of the HK$1.3 billion in losses posted by the Hong Kong park last year, and a study that showed 70% of theme parks on the mainland lose money.
Initially, many Zhaohang locals greeted the approval of the park with glee, believing they would earn big resettlement payments from the government.
But over the past six months, as the neighbourhood gradually crumbled beneath the demolition trucks, the initial joy quickly subsided.
"I don't think anyone was happy in the end," said a young woman working in one of the last shops. "People thought they were going to get huge amounts of money for their homes but they were very disappointed when they found out the truth. It was better for the locals, but outsiders like us got even less."
Further along the road, a noodle shop and a bicycle parts kiosk in a partially demolished building are all that remain of what was the settlement's main street. The noodle vendor, who has been running the shop for 15 years, told a similar story.
"Our landlord offered us 15,000 yuan in compensation," she said. "That is just a joke because I know he got a lot more than that. Where can I find another place for that measly amount of money?"
In the nearby Zhixiong supermarket - still open to sell daily necessities to the demolition teams - staff also professed ignorance about their future. "We don't know what's happening or when we are supposed to close down," said one of three bored-looking sales attendants. "The boss has said he will transfer us to another store but I don't know what part of Shanghai that will be in." -- South China Morning Post
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