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China: "Lost on Chaoyang Lu, Beijing" Jay Dunn 46 images Created 13 Jun 2008

"Lost on Chaoyang Lu: The Price of Change in China" --

For all the Chinese who will enjoy the very real benefits of Beijing's Olympic-related improvements, such as the renovation and indeed rebirth of the subway system, there are ordinary citizens far from the spotlight who have simply been overrun by civic transformations made with little regard for those who are displaced.

Grand avenues are a tradition in China, in keeping with the aspirations of an exploding economy gripped by rightful pride and thousands of new cars. But for those who live and work in the dusty, flat outskirts of the city, sometimes forty minutes by bus from business districts or popular tourist spots, there is little reason stated in public for the removal of every single shade tree on Chaoyang Street, or the wholesale destruction of hundreds of small businesses.

Municipal authorities, often working on tight deadlines mandated by the central government, have the "big picture," of course, but in making themselves opaque, they remain accountable to none of the people who have been forced out. Desperate shop and restaurant owners unable to rebuild have resorted to banding together, in one case invoking funeral customs and superstition in a last-minute appeal for clemency.

What are no doubt necessary improvements for all have become bitter pills to the proud, patriotic Chinese who posted public pleas for help in their windows, their restaurant now standing alone in a sea of rubble close to three miles long. More at wwww.jaydunn.org
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  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. An exhausted demolition worker rests in the doorway of a Chaoyang Street business being torn down far east of the city center..
    China.JDUNN.01.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Months of demolition along Chaoyang Street have left businesses desperate to sell whatever they have - this store had its windows broken..
    China.JDUNN.02.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Lanterns on in the middle of the day, a restaurant that was forcibly closed resists moving. Street widening of Chaoyang Street was mandated by the municipal authorities..
    China.JDUNN.03.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Students note a neighborhood restaurant's cry for help. The wreath in the window is traditionally reserved for funerals.
    China.JDUNN.04.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. A restaurant makes a public protest against being evicted. Hundreds of small businesses along Chaoyang Street have been demolished to the east and west of this corner..
    China.JDUNN.05.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Owners of Chaoyang Street businesses in the San Jian Fang area plead with the government for compensation. Buildings have been forcibly closed then demolished without explanation..
    China.JDUNN.06.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. A wreath usually reserved for funerals is displayed inside a restaurant protesting forcible eviction. The Chinese characters read: "han wei guo jia" or "protect country" and "shi si wei hu" or "pledge our lives.".
    China.JDUNN.07.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. In protest against eviction without compensation, a restaurant closes but refuses to move. The Chinese characters read "to pledge our lives to protect the constitution and resist illegal demolition, to pledge our lives to maintain businessmen's legal rights."
    China.JDUNN.08.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. In the ruins of a restaurant protesting forcible eviction, a card advertising the specialty of the house: "pao jiao," or pickled pepper beef..
    China.JDUNN.09.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Signs of protest seen from inside a restaurant forced to close on Chaoyang Street. In the windows are death wreaths, usually reserved for funerals.
    China.JDUNN.10.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Shuttered forever by street widening, a restaurant defiantly refuses to move. A plea to municipal officials for compensation is in the front windows - the wall reads "To pledge our lives to defend the constitution and resist illegal demolition, to pledge our lives to maintain businessmen's legal rights."
    China.JDUNN.11.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Looking east on Chaoyang Lu, far from the city center, chaos reigns as small businesses are torn down in a massive street widening project..
    China.JDUNN.12.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Life goes on as usual after demolition teams armed only with sledgehammers reduced this corner to rubble..
    China.JDUNN.13.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Within a month of its destruction, the San Jian Fang corner seen in #13 of this series rises again, construction nearly matching the pace of demolition..
    China.JDUNN.14.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. A "wood man" salvages anything he can carry on his pushcart from Chaoyang Street demolition sites..
    China.JDUNN.15.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Virtually everything made of wood is this recycler's goal, using little more than a traditional Chinese kitchen knife and a "sanluche," or three-wheel bicycle cart.
    China.JDUNN.16.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Demolition workers head home in a blue diesel flatbed truck. Hundreds of businesses have been summarily evicted to make way for the widening of Chaoyang Street east of the city center..
    China.JDUNN.17.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. A woman heads toward her home through the rubble of businesses demolished to make way for road expansion.
    China.JDUNN.18.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Quilts hang out to dry amid the renovations all around Chaoyang Street east of the city center. Many traditional home are now exposed in this way.
    China.JDUNN.19.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. A migrant worker's child surveys a rough-and-tumble playground just off Chaoyang Street far east of the city center.
    China.JDUNN.20.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Dusk's temperature change is welcomed by workers laying pipe to go beneath a new road surface in Beijing.
    China.JDUNN.21.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Migrant laborers moved into this neighborhood for the renovation work, sleeping in temporary shelters and cooking thier own meals long after dark.
    China.JDUNN.22.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Working until well after sunset, a construction crew keeps up a steady pace through the early summer heat in Beijing.
    China.JDUNN.23.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Working with only sledgehammers and flatbed trucks, demolition crews make short work of structure built mostly of brick. What little steel reinforcement bar there is will be salvaged.
    China.JDUNN.24.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Many businesses fronting Chaoyang Street had little choice in whether they would follow municipal government eviction orders, as crews like this were quick to move in.
    China.JDUNN.25.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Wooden beams like these salvaged from Chaoyang Street businesses will be reused elsewhere in new structures. Bricks are commonly recycled right on the spot to save transportation costs.
    China.JDUNN.26.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Construction teams moved onto Chaoyang Street in short order, often working side-by-side with demolition crews and sharing the same temporary shelters.
    China.JDUNN.27.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Taking care with his work, a bricklayer helping to rebuild Chaoyang street businesses puts the finishing touches on a wall.
    China.JDUNN.28.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Halfway between the destruction of the old and the opening of the new, idled restaurant workers along Chaoyang Street while away the afternoon with a card game.
    China.JDUNN.29.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. One of the few powered machines in a largely manual demolition effort along Chaoyang Street, in the far east of the city center. Much of the work is done by sledgehammer or shovel.
    China.JDUNN.30.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. A child watches the action from the safety of a transport vehicle's cab. Young children can often be seen near low-tech construction zones such as these demolitions.
    China.JDUNN.31.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Out of a job, for now, the manager of Jie Jie, a popular local restaurant, and one of the cooks spare a smile in the ruins of their establishment. They are lucky, and will be employed again at another branch.
    China.JDUNN.32.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Stripped of their insides, the corner businesses across the street from the back gate of Beijing International Studies University await demolition. See image 34 in this series.
    China.JDUNN.33.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Popular with students and residents alike, little now remains of the Chaoyang Street businesses across the street from the back gate of Beijing International Studies University. See image 33 in this series for a "before" view.
    China.JDUNN.34.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. The Chaoyang Street intersection across from Beijing International Studies University is a study in turmoil, with literally every store, road, utility and building ripped up and reworked.
    China.JDUNN.35.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. The north side of Chaoyang Street near the back gate of Beijing International Studies University, now a wreck undergoing a complete renovation.
    China.JDUNN.36.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. An elderly woman rummages through the wreckage of a local Chaoyang street restaurant searching for anything of value.
    China.JDUNN.37.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. An army of recyclers descends on the wreckage of businesses demolished in Chaoyang Street widening. Each has his own specialty, as does this "wire man."
    China.JDUNN.38.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Part of a large group of itinerant recyclers, this man specializes in anything made of metal. An empty Chaoyang Street restaurant is behind him.
    China.JDUNN.39.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. His load complete, a "furniture man" pedals his three-wheel cart away from a profitable day's work. Virtually everything of value business owners did not want in the evictions was recycled.
    China.JDUNN.40.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. A resident walks by the ruins of Chaoyang Street businesses east of Beijing International Studies University. Many will never be rebuilt.
    China.JDUNN.41.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. View of a restaurant protesting forcible eviction by using "death" wreaths, traditionally reserved for funerals. Superstition may have prevented authorities from demolishing this building..
    China.JDUNN.42.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. A restaurant that has joined a business owner's protest using "death" wreaths seems to be spared destruction for the moment. Superstition may have a role in explaining why it is still standing.
    China.JDUNN.43.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. An Chaoyang Street area undergoing simultaneous construction and demolition. Street widening in this working-class area has brought protests against eviction without compensation..
    China.JDUNN.44.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. A restaurant rises from the rubble all around fifty feet back from where it once stood. Although many businesses that faced forcible eviction could not afford to rebuild, this one did, and will survive.
    China.JDUNN.45.lost.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Chaoyang, San Jian Fang, 2008. Happy to still have a job, a restaurant worker flashes a smile as he transports goods from the shell of the old to the kitchen of the new.
    China.JDUNN.46.lost.jpg