In Xinjiancun, a ramshackle village of migrant workers on the far southern fringe of Beijing, demolition machinery tears into buildings as residents drag out the last of their belongings under the gaze of police and security staff.
A citywide fire safety blitz prompted by a deadly blaze this month is forcing thousands of migrant workers out of their homes and businesses, igniting unusually direct criticism of city government measures seen by some people as unfairly targeting the vulnerable underclass.
Beijing’s municipal government launched the 40-day “special operation” targeting fire code and building safety violations after a Nov. 18 apartment fire in Xinjiancun killed 19, almost all of them migrants.
Photo: AP
The Beijing government said it had acted on more than 25,000 violations in the operation’s first week, which it described as purely “for the lives and safety of the people.”
Tens of thousands of people are believed to be affected, activists said.
While restaurants and shops not up to code in more affluent areas have not been immune, the safety blitz has mostly targeted outlying parts of Beijing where enforcement of construction codes has tended to be lax and where migrant workers congregate due to cheaper rent.
“To say that this special operation is to drive out the ‘low-end population’ is irresponsible and baseless,” the Beijing government said in a statement carried by state media on Sunday.
“Some of the migrant population choose these places to work and live in, but they don’t understand the danger they’re in,” it said.
One resident said her family of six, including her nine-month old grandson, had been suddenly rendered homeless, spending the previous night huddled in the back of their minivan in sub-freezing temperatures.
“We are also Chinese people. Why are we being treated this way?” the woman from Hubei Province said.
“What are we to do, where can we go to raise grievances? No one dares to,” she said, asking not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Local authorities attributed the Nov. 18 blaze to faulty electrical wiring in an illegally modified two-store property housing shops and a cold storage facility in the basement, with the top floor subdivided into small, crowded living quarters.
More than a dozen residents of Xinjiancun said at least 50 uniformed security guards and chengguan — an urban management force that assists police — had smashed their stores’ signage and issued threats to ensure compliance.
The Beijing city government and the Daxing district government, which covers the southern part of the city, did not respond to requests for comment.
Xia Xiaocong, a 44-year-old supermarket owner, said he was told to move everything out and leave within 48 hours, after security guards cut his electricity and trashed the front of his shop.
“I told them I have all the legal documents, and they said you have to close and get lost,” he said in side the damaged store, its shelves emptied.
Residents and supermarket staff confirmed details of Xia’s account.
In Dingfuzhuang, a logistics hub in Beijing’s east, residents on Saturday said authorities had cut off electricity and running water to force them out.
“In 2008, it was ‘Beijing Welcomes You,’” said Liang Yinghui, from Hebei Province, referring to the slogan of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “Now, in 2017, Beijing loathes you, and wants to throw you out.”
An open letter to the Chinese government from more than 100 prominent academics, lawyers and intellectuals said the measures against Beijing’s migrant population were “illegal, unconstitutional and seriously trampled on human rights.”
Such open criticism of government is increasingly rare as officials have clamped down on various aspects of civil society under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Several non-profit groups that sought to offer assistance said they have been obstructed by police, with their online advertisements blocked by censors.
Tongzhou Jiayuan, a private community service center in Beijing’s Tongzhou District, said it was shut by police soon after posting a notice on social media welcoming struggling migrant workers to come and stay.
On Monday, Beijing Communist Party secretary Cai Qi (蔡奇) said authorities should have given more time for residents to relocate and called for the operation to be carried out in a more orderly fashion, according to the official Beijing Daily.
About 8.23 million Beijing residents came from outside the capital, almost 40 percent of its population of nearly 22 million, according to a report last year by the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese