Huang Ping’s home stands alone in a tranquil Shanghai neighborhood, surrounded by a new expressway in Jinxi, China. Social media footage of the picture has gone viral, depicting a house surrounded by asphalt and concrete, with highways snaking around it like a river around a rock.
Huang Ping, a grandfather who’s living with his 11-year-old grandson, had to make a decision. The Chinese government intended to proceed with a major highway project and offered him 1.6 million yuan (approximately $222,000) as well as three new residences to relocate. But Huang held out, hoping to get an even better offer. He wasn’t alone in this thinking; China calls these properties “nail houses,” stubborn holdouts that refuse to give in to development.
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No better offer came. Instead, the government went ahead, undeterred. Construction crews arrived and the highway took shape, curving around Huang’s home like a pair of arms embracing an obstacle. His modest house now lies in a strange bubble of isolation, with the road noise as a constant companion.
Huang and his grandson spend most of their days in the town center, away from the building noise. They come home at night, when the crews go home and the machines fall silent. Even so, peace lasts only so long, as getting to the front door now involves traversing a massive drainage pipe that runs beneath the highway. When it rains, the situation becomes much more dangerous, with locals fearing that the pipe might overflow and convert their house into an island.
Huang is regretful. “If I could go back in time, I would accept the demolition terms they offered,” he told Metro. “Now it feels like I lost a big bet.”
[Source]
