He purchase the apt.
in 2006 in Kunming. That's when I first arrived in Kunming. Interesting read. He's been a friend of China for a long time it seems. Bet he can
even get a GREEN CARD. Sad! We are always viewed as tourists.
they treated him as one of their own. he is naturally angry and shouting from the rooftops, i would too. perhaps locals have been brought up to believe that resistance is futile, and you dont draw attention to yourself. this green lake project is a leviathan, there would be no stopping it.
Green card? Living/working outside of China whilst leaving an old apartment
unattended? Complaining about it on social media? Heads would/will roll...
@alienew
Good find. Here's the direct link to John Israel's article published three days ago on The Globalist:
I'd be remiss not to chime in on posters rebuking the OP for going public "looking for sympathy" and "complaining about it on social media."
As a morning park stroller, my observation of a flock of sparrow birds may be a good analogy to our quandary...
The other day I saw a sparrow perched on a privileged branch of a tree calling out to warn other sparrows nearby, not visible to the looming threat of a squirrel. This public message in the form of a chirp, or a tweet, is intrinsic in all sparrows in the flock, and act as a collective alarm system ensuring their survival as a whole.
This social instinct is inherent in us humans as it for our avian, land, and aquatic non-human primates.
John may not be the first sparrow to spot the squirrel, as millions of Chinese have quietly accepted their fate of unjust expropriation compensations... but as a credible academic scholar, his "tweet" can echo louder & farther than would dislocated farmers in countrysides who lack voice in the press, let alone foreign ones.
John performed a honorable civic duty by broadcasting the risks & vulnerabilities on behalf of all prospective buyers and current homeowners in China, be it foreigners or locals.
@ bilingual: Agreed, good to know what has happened to John & his house. Anybody with a different account of it should be welcome to lay it out here
"This social instinct is inherent in us humans as it for our avian, land, and aquatic non-human primates."
Huh?
@Stratocaster
No, didn't think you would understand.
@alienew
Little birds have informed me that Kunming local residents of 经典双城 community in the West, near 昌源中路 KRT subway station on Line 3 (pink), have faced harsher intimidation tactics by real estate developer 华信地产 these past eight years. Protests are still ongoing as we speak.
Besides the beating and vandalism of breaking windows or throwing snakes into previous 农民房 households, several occupants died from gas cylinder explosions caused by the affiliates of said developer.
One community resident even traveled from Kunming to Beijing's Tienanmen Square, sneaking past 24 hour confinement watch, to self immolate himself on two separate occasions in protest. This news reached central & local authorities and the developer was ordered to pay millions in compensations, yet still far from what they owed everyone.
Many residents are still left without homes as the one-to-one real estate swap for building complexes originally promised by the developer have yet to be built. Previous public spaces that the community once collectively received rent for, are now seized and controlled entirely by the developer w/o reimbursements. With little sources of income, abandoned elders in the community scavenge among the trash just to get by.
Ad hominem
> these past eight years
that's an important point. this is not something new. this has been going on for a long time and most people are aware of it. so what's the strategy? keep purchasing real estate from known thugs and hope it doesn't affect you?
@Stratocaster
I'm sorry. Let me rephrase:
This social instinct is inherent in us humans/nonhuman primates as it is in our avian, land, and aquatic kin.
@dolphin
Agreed. Unsuspecting buyers need to conduct due diligence on real estate developers before getting starry eyed in the sales office, granted some of the developers' shady track records are more challenging to unearth...
for instance, the 经典双城 protests hoped to capture the attention of local reporters/journalists for exposure. Unfortunately for unspecified reasons, the media have kept a distance... hence the importance of my John sparrow analogy.
Even the local police once stood on the side of the developer trying to disperse the protestors. Nowadays they too have been ordered to stay neutral on the matter.
Similar to the OP's account, cell phones were once pried from protestors' hands, but to refrain from refueling bad publicity, the developer now acts with more civility.
