Taken from the Globe & Mail article by Geoffrey York, photo by Mark Ralston:It has been dubbed "the nail house." Sticking out like an upright nail, the house and its owner have stubbornly refused to be hammered down by a property developer who has bulldozed everything around it.
Mr. Yang is a former kung-fu champion who is admired for his defiant attitude and his toughness. Last week, he used two steel pipes to climb up to his home from the 10-metre-deep pit that surrounds it. Brandishing a set of wooden clubs, he shouted to onlookers: "If anyone dares to come up, I'll beat them back down."
Thousands of property disputes have erupted in China in recent years. Many cases are similar to the nail-house case: A private developer buys up a site, gains support from local officials and puts pressure on hundreds of local residents to leave.
9 comments:
Argh... I say good for him.
I wonder what kind of person actually runs or works for these companies?
Simple probability means that most are relatively normal, kind people.
So why the juggernaut? Are a few leaders in these companies truly evil? Are they lizardMen as has been claimed?
I would think likely not as well, yet is it that one convinces themselves of a goal, of a better outcome once such a man is banished?
I don't know.
Is it that an institution allows us to remain quiet about things that are hard to look at, and thus the power of this photo?
Am I a lizardMan?
I wish I knew, and could make things like this disappear.
... Good on him...
:(
You know, I'm starting to really distrust the accuracy of the g&m's reporting... the New York Times now has a story at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/world/asia/26cnd-china.html?hp on the same thing, but it turns out that the guy in the g&m story is actually the brother of the woman who owns this house...
Inability to change is a weakness.
I think that the stubborness of these people is admirable, but if everyone acted like this, think of what the world would be like.
I'd be interested to find out why the person didn't move.
How about the stubbornness of the developer who went ahead and dug out the entire surrounding area? How about the stubbornness of the government that (see the nytimes article link above) will, in all likelihood, force them out of the house?
To my mind, it takes a great deal of courage to stand up to that kind of stubbornness, and we shouldn't assume that they are weakly unable to change, but instead powerfully unwilling to change, a change which would (will) be brought about by outside pressures...
holy crap!! :o
I expect Dan to do the same thing if the Aspers come calling for Portage Ave property!
courage=pride
Courage = Honouring thyself, not pride.
Courage = Bravery... not pride or self-honour necessarily.
Pride is one of those weird 2 meaning words.
I have heard it reffered to as a beneficial and detremental characteristic. Self respect/honour, and arrogance/hubris. He is proud of his accomplisments, or he is too proud to ride the bus.
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