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China: "Outside the 5th Ring Road, Beijing" Jay Dunn 48 images Created 26 Mar 2008

China, Beijing, 2007. "Outside the 5th Ring Road" is a new study of how Beijing's relentless construction boom is both marginalizing the local villagers of Ping Fang Xiang and offering them new choices. The story centers on the way farm land has been subdivided, and the village segmented as new development begins. Less than three years ago, Ping Fang Xiang did not consider itself fully in the orbit of Beijing, since few of the rapid economic improvements had reached this neighborhood of traditional structures, rutted dirt lanes and proud home-owners.

These days, the local post office cannot keep up with the flow of new addresses. As multi-story new apartments rose on farmer's fields, jobs were created, and opportunities to prosper came and went, the village found itself the beneficiary of progress while watching itself split apart into pieces. Many who could afford to do so moved into new government housing, offered at fair prices - those who could not, however, stayed behind, weighing the obvious benefits of change against the fracturing of their community.

-- More at www.jaydunn.org --
Humanitarian Issues & Cultural Tradition Worldwide
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  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Power lines criss-cross the neighborhood on the north side of Chao Yang Bei Lu outside the 5th Ring Road..
    China.JDUNN.01.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. A mother and child walk along a side road, newly paved, in transition.  The stream beside them is blue and gray with toxic runoff but will soon be covered.
    China.JDUNN.02.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. The new red buildings of Ding Fu Jia Yuan are part of a massive building expansion within the village of Ping Fang Xiang. All of the empty fields shown here in October, 2007 were under construction by March, 2008..
    China.JDUNN.03.outside.jpg
  • China.JDUNN.04.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Temporary walls and a gravel road meant for heavy duty trucks make rough going for residents. New housing is being offered to locals for heavily discounted prices..
    China.JDUNN.05.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Low-slung traditional brick housing is demolished by hand, while reasonably-priced new housing rises all around..
    China.JDUNN.06.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Alone amid demolished housing surrounding it a residence remain intact, the owner perhaps resisting offers to move elsewhere..
    China.JDUNN.07.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. The new red buildings of Ding Fu Jia Yuan rise above Ping Fang Xiang residences still being torn down.
    China.JDUNN.08.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Coping with year-round construction is the unfortunate lot of these Ping Fang Xiang families close to new developments. .
    China.JDUNN.09.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. A mother sits in the doorway of her home in Ping Fang Xiang. Though new housing will soon be available, they are unlikely to be able to afford even the low prices offered by the central government..
    China.JDUNN.10.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. New materials for temporary walls lie in the narrow strip of land between new construction and traditional housing..
    China.JDUNN.11.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Lime lines mark what is to be preserved and what is to be re-made. Much of the village's land has been sold or appropriated for development..
    China.JDUNN.12.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Temporary walls mark new construction sites right next door to a part of Ping Fang Xiang village, which has been slowly segmented..
    China.JDUNN.13.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Workers demolish their temporary homes now that the Ding Fu Jia Yuan development next to Ping Fang Xiang village is complete..
    China.JDUNN.14.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Along Chao Yang Bei Lu outside the 5th Ring Road, evidence of progress, but also of lives in transition..
    China.JDUNN.15.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. New construction and an old graveyard contrast between Ping Fang Xiang and Chao Yang Bei Lu outside the 5th Ring Road..
    China.JDUNN.16.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Parents stream into the local kindergarten to pick up their children. China's tremendous efforts to educate its population means Ping Fang Xiang will probably get a new school..
    China.JDUNN.17.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Sunset along one of Ping Fang Xiang's outlying streets, with the new development of Ding Fu Jia Yuan in the distance..
    China.JDUNN.18.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Everything has value in this carefully maintained recycling yard in Ping Fang Xiang.
    China.JDUNN.19.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Ping Fang Xiang has several recycling yards, where everything useable is collected and sold to resellers..
    China.JDUNN.20.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. An industrious metal forager strips eveything down to its essential parts in order to sell it in the Ping Fang Xiang receycling yards..
    China.JDUNN.21.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Slowly but surely, teams of men using little more than pickaxes and sledgehammers destroy a swath of housing to make way for new development in Ping Fang Xiang..
    China.JDUNN.22.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Skeletons of new houses rise behind the rubble of old businesses north of Chao Yang Bei Lu..
    China.JDUNN.23.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. North of Chao Yang Bei Lu outside the 5th Ring Road, a new housing community takes shape on former Ping Fang Xiang fields..
    China.JDUNN.24.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. A brick delivery three-wheeler takes a break near new construction on the north side of Chao Yang Bei Lu..
    China.JDUNN.25.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. On the north side of Chao Yang Bei Lu outside the 5th Ring Road, bricklayers set a fuious pace on a new building..
    China.JDUNN.26.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. A poor part of Ping Fang Xiang seen in the light of late afternoon. A coal brick yard works next door. .
    China.JDUNN.27.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Curiosity gets the better of this young village boy next to the coal brick yard, as he watches the action outside..
    China.JDUNN.28.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. A delivery man's hand, seen at his Ping Fang Xiang coal factory on the north side of Chao Yang Bei Lu. .
    China.JDUNN.29.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Coal brick delivery men laugh as they jockey their three-wheelers in front of the yard on the north side of Chao Yang Bei Lu. .
    China.JDUNN.30.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. On the north side of Chao Yang Bei Lu outside the 5th Ring Road, a coal delivery woman observes the brick stamping process..
    China.JDUNN.31.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. The air outside the center of Beijing's has a markedly different quality at night. Polluting coal bricks like these, made in Ping Fang Xiang, are the only way many villagers have to heat their old brick homes.  Power lines criss-cross the neighborhood on the north side of Chao Yang Bei Lu outside the 5th Ring Road..
    China.JDUNN.32.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. This coal brick stamping machine in Ping Fang Xiang can turn out hundreds of bricks per hour, provided it is fed by hand. Workers stand by to load three-wheel carts for neighborhood delivery.
    China.JDUNN.33.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. A coal brick stamping machine in Ping Fang Xiang requires a number of laborers to both feed it and remove the finished pressed form from the area..
    China.JDUNN.34.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. On the north side of Chao Yang Bei Lu outside the 5th Ring Road, economic progress has been slow to come to these residents..
    China.JDUNN.35.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. In this neighborhood, pollution is a serious unaddressed problem. To its credit, the government has begun to tackle the cleanup of toxic areas like this reservoir in Ping Fang Xiang. .
    China.JDUNN.36.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Bricklayers work from early morning until well into the night on Ping Fang Xiang's new construction projects. .
    China.JDUNN.37.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. A testament to individual drive, and the need for a consistent income, this laborer well into his sixties carts a load of mortar to bricklayers in Ping Fang Xiang.
    China.JDUNN.38.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Children play right in the middle of one of Ping Fang Xiang's numerous construction sites. This project is utilizing recycled bricks to improve local housing..
    China.JDUNN.39.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. A German shepherd does his best to guard the open borders of a Ping Fang Xiang brick construction site..
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  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Sunset will not stop these workers in Ping Fang Xiang from continuining their labor well past dark. They are rewarded for early completion of a project..
    China.JDUNN.41.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Screened off for good reason, this runoff channel of toxic water in the village center is being covered over - one of the many improvements that are being made..
    China.JDUNN.42.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Laborers demolish the brick facing of a Ping Fang Xiang runoff channel, in preparation for covering it over permanently..
    China.JDUNN.43.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Beautiful if one doesn't look too closely, a waste-water channel runs blue and gray as it mixes with pollution. This waterway, shown in October, 2007 was covered over permanently by March, 2008..
    China.JDUNN.44.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Shown in March, 2008, a channel carrying toxic gray water through Ping Fang Xiang village is now covered over, one of the improvements brought to residents by the government..
    China.JDUNN.45.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. Fields shown empty in October, 2007 are under construction by March, 2008. Ping Fang Xiang's farmers are compensated for their land and offered cut-rates on the new development..
    China.JDUNN.46.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. New bricks are being used on this project in Ping Fang Xiang, as demolition and recycling of old structures cannot keep up with the pace of construction here.
    China.JDUNN.47.outside.jpg
  • China, Beijing, Ping Fang Xiang, 2008. A bricklayer in Ping Fang Xiang breaks into a wide smile at being photographed. Despite a glut of office spaces in Beijing, the pace of new construction has brought thousands of necessary jobs to Chinese craftsmen..
    China.JDUNN.48.outside.jpg