Last look: Centuries-old community bears brunt of commercialization Xiancun village, sitting on the rim of downtown Guangzhou, one of the...
Last look: Centuries-old community bears brunt of commercialization
Xiancun village, sitting on the rim of downtown Guangzhou, one of the most developed cities in China, is about to turn a page in its 800-year history, as the local government pushes forward a project to sync the community with the city’s developing pace.
The settlement in this village started eight centuries ago, and it was renamed as Xiancun during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). Its historic traces have gradually dwindled and the village remerged as an inner city community, or "inner city village" as it is called in China, three decades ago. The settlement has since housed generations of migrants who moved to cities as China’s economy opened up.
In the 1980s, urbanization advanced at the periphery of Xiancun turning the farmlands into a buzzing trading hotspot in the latter decade. As locals profited, they became the new riches. And as they moved to better places, their settlement turned into ruins.
On December 19, the government planned to reshape the neighborhood, after almost seven years of intermittent suspension caused by compensation-related disputes among local property owners – the same new rich who owned properties and later abandoned as they gained wealth. Such disputes to get a share of the government’s compensation plan for tearing down settlements have often thwarted many similar projects nationwide, sometimes leading to bloodshed and confrontation between proprietors and local authorities.
“Quite a few Xiancun residents are expected to become billionaires overnight should the project moves smoothly forward”, according to a China News report.
Re-post from https://www.facebook.com/cctvnewschina/
Xiancun village, sitting on the rim of downtown Guangzhou, one of the most developed cities in China, is about to turn a page in its 800-year history, as the local government pushes forward a project to sync the community with the city’s developing pace.
The settlement in this village started eight centuries ago, and it was renamed as Xiancun during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). Its historic traces have gradually dwindled and the village remerged as an inner city community, or "inner city village" as it is called in China, three decades ago. The settlement has since housed generations of migrants who moved to cities as China’s economy opened up.
In the 1980s, urbanization advanced at the periphery of Xiancun turning the farmlands into a buzzing trading hotspot in the latter decade. As locals profited, they became the new riches. And as they moved to better places, their settlement turned into ruins.
On December 19, the government planned to reshape the neighborhood, after almost seven years of intermittent suspension caused by compensation-related disputes among local property owners – the same new rich who owned properties and later abandoned as they gained wealth. Such disputes to get a share of the government’s compensation plan for tearing down settlements have often thwarted many similar projects nationwide, sometimes leading to bloodshed and confrontation between proprietors and local authorities.
“Quite a few Xiancun residents are expected to become billionaires overnight should the project moves smoothly forward”, according to a China News report.
Re-post from https://www.facebook.com/cctvnewschina/
posted from Bloggeroid
