By most standards, 43-year-old Qi Huirong would be considered a moderately successful man.
He heads a small design company in China's business hub of Shanghai, drives a nice car and until recently owned a spacious flat where he lived with his wife and nephew.
But Qi's status as a responsible member of the community took a turn for the worse when he dared challenge police and government officials from the Coordination Bureau of the Shanghai World Expo over the requisition of his property.
His appeal to win fair market value for his flat at Xueye Estates, which like many neighborhood blocks in Shanghai is being demolished to make way for the 2010 World Expo, was instead met with intimidation and violence.
Two years ago, Shanghai Communist Party boss Chen Liangyu led a successful charm offensive to convince the Paris-based International Bureau of Expositions (IBE) that his city was worthy of holding the prestigious 183-day world fair.
His flashy, professional presentation put forward a massive redevelopment plan -- the city's biggest ever -- to ensure that 18,000 families forced to move, including nearly 11,000 in Pudong, the expo's main site covering 5.28km2, would be taken care of.
With a budget of 28.7 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion), the urban plan would not only give international cache and a financial boost to this already rapidly modernizing city but also beautify and reinvigorate rundown neighborhoods.
Broken promises
On the cool December night in 2002 that Shanghai beat four other international cities for the right to host the expo, China's financial center erupted in celebration, with proud residents partying until dawn.
But the party is long over and as Shanghai tries to surmount the project's tough challenges, thousands of residents have come forward to accuse the government of breaking the promises it made to the IBE.
On nearly a weekly basis, desperate Shanghai residents contact foreign news organizations complaining that the government regularly uses intimidation and force to solve urban relocation disputes.
Hoodlums, hired by real estate or demolition companies, threaten and beat residents, while police stand by or turn a blind eye, they say. Party officials ignore residents' petitions.
State media reports only the official line, similar to what Zhao Jianneng, deputy director of the petition office of Pudong district government, told AFP.
"The whole relocation project is moving along very smoothly," Zhao said. "As far as I know, there are no rights violations," he said.
"Ten thousands of families have moved so far -- if it is unfair how come they are willing to move?"
Soaring prices
The problem, however, is endemic throughout the city, as old, dilapidated housing makes way for expensive high-rises that common citizens cannot afford because they have been inadequately compensated in the face of soaring real estate prices.
Residents whose activism becomes a thorn in the side of authorities are often arrested on trumped up charges, rights groups say.
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