China: Homeowners hold their ground · Global Voices
John Kennedy

How does China's landmark, much-blogged about new property law relate to the average citizen? An illustration comes with the decision by two residents of central China's Chongqing Municipality to hold their ground when the land upon which the house they purchased had been sold, then dug up, by a developer which then successfully had the courts rule to evict her and her co-habitant, Yang Wu.
Smelling a story, journalists from all across the country rushed to the city [zh] to see what would happen when the owner, Wu Ping, ran out of time to evacuate her ‘nail house‘ at midnight on March 21. In the meantime, Wu set up her own blog and released this video:
Chinese netizens had already been blogging the story for a couple weeks, and the comment flow reached a peak this week with bbs members almost unanimously posting in support of Wu and Yang, many casting the couple as heroes, fighting for the rule of law. On the evening of March 21, popular forum Cat989 set up a thread for readers to report the latest news and in less than 48 hours has seen over 8300 responses and forum Tianya's live updates thread not far behind. Readers kept the threading moving with worried comments, in-person feedback and self-shot photos flooding in non-stop straight through a second night until the morning of March 23. Netease had initially set up a space for open comment but quickly shut it down, later opening another space. Xici Hutong's Reporter's Home forum also had some great photos pouring in, but all that can be seen there now is the following message:
媒介评论——做媒体沟通新渠道[直接访问地址：reporter.xici.net]网友观点不代表本版立场,注意发言的客观、理性，请不要讨论跟媒体和编辑记者本身没有关系的话题。本版保留删帖的权力。
Here's what citizen journalists have been liveblogging about the situation at the nail house. The following few comments were left on the Tianya forum in the following order between 10:17 and 10:32 on the morning of March 21:
中国基本上是党最大，情大于法。法是上层阶级压迫老百姓的工具而已。
可怜的还是老百姓
中国从来不缺少法律，缺少的是法律的执行。法律前面不是人人平等，这样的法律能起多大的效力？！
能有重庆网友现场直播拆迁全过程就好了，拍个DV
我觉得这个钉子户的肯定有背景,要不然的话……
中国有人权么？
我都这么老了，还没有见过人权长什么样儿呢！
Here are some more randomly-chosen comments of the tens of thousands in the nail house thread at Tianya:
crystal369, 14:44:38, March 21
体制不改变，司法不独立，百姓永远是鱼肉。
按《土地法》规定：不是必须由吴女士将土地使用权出让给 开发商，开发商才能办理土地使用权过户手续吗？房管局有何权力裁决吴女士将房子卖给开发商？吴女士的房子不卖，犯了中国哪部法？哪条罪？？公权力房管局还真TMD 强买强卖，这样的公权力比土匪还恶劣100倍！！法院还支持，无赖
hzwsx01, 16:09:59, March 21
土地是国家的,没错;
但是请记住:
1>人家可以使用土地70年,这点可是在土地使用证上说明了的.现在人家没满,就没资格要求别人搬;
2>七十年到了,OK,你可以去挖归国家所有的”土地”,但是土地上的房屋,对不起,请不要动人家的.有种你能把人家的房屋下面的土地整个搬走呀..如果因你的动作,坏了人家的建筑,不好意思,你同样得承担责任了.
Laughing as I throw a brick, 22:34:12, March 21
不知道上面骂我的人有没有很仔细的看过这个新闻．
１，开发商给他的赔偿价是２４０－３５０万．在所处地段已经是非常适合的价格，不存在故意压价的行为．
２，我已经说了，如果是合法权益应该保护．他开口就是２０００万
难道你觉得能够实现？如果他能成为榜样，那就不用加法律了．
And here begin the posts in which bloggers in Chongqing posted what they saw:
作者：白天与黑夜YL 回复日期：2007-3-22 00:26:00
我们去的时候旁边的面包车司机对我们说的.最开始开发商要给钉子户他们3百50万.结果钉子户觉得少了.结果最后法院评估是2百47万.这下钉子户就急了.
作者：sunning_xu 回复日期：2007-3-22 15:10:00
攻城开始,现场已经在封锁中，众多围观的普通市民都被大范围的栅栏隔离在施工范围之外。
只听得现场一片混乱,哭声,叫喊声,机器轰鸣声,吹呼声,声声入耳,但是不知道里面究竟发生了什么?
作者： 射日一号　回复日期：2007-3-22　15:33:22
1点40分左右，施工方工人将一个牌子放到施工地点，上面写着：危险，严禁攀爬！
现场还没有拆迁的动作！
作者： alex_kang　回复日期：2007-3-22　17:36:02
网易现场直播的贴子已经被删除.天涯也快了.
作者： phoebus_chen　回复日期：2007-3-22　18:07:25
先文字汇报一下今天下午3点左右我专门过去看到的情况：
我是2点50到的现场，由于地面视界有限，看不能里面的情况，我在轻轨的站台上做的观察的拍摄。事实上这个位置很好，距离钉子户不过20M，房子的窗口正对着轻轨车站，看到老杨好几次，他不停在房间里走动，时不是跟另外一面的记者的挥挥手。中间也有几次在房间内活动了一下拳脚，看来他精神不错，也很知道保持体能。吴姐同志在下面接待记者，3点左右现场大概有20名记者在采访她，这次她好像有所准备，提供一些书面的资料在散发。每当老杨露出头时，她也会激动地跟他挥挥手，看得出，她是非常担心的。陆续还有电视台扛摄像机的记者赶到现场加入采访。到4点我走时已经有大概5台摄像机在现场了。
Here's a picture posted by weibeeling at 18:33:58, March 22
Owner Wu Ping accepting interviews from media
And a few more from Yi Wen at 21:38:12, March 22:
从下午1点30分开始，工地方面已经在切断通往小楼的道路，原本在小楼周围的记者也被清理出现场，只能在较远的地方拍摄。到2点的时候，基本已经将道路封闭，封闭处加固完成。
Continuing:
作者：射日一号　回复日期：2007-3-22　21:50:27
房屋里面漆黑一片，没有任何动静。现场围观的几百名群众还没有散去，而且越聚越多。
作者：中国刘翔　回复日期：2007-3-22　21:50:55
这个问题很好解决嘛。
钉子户的这个房子既然已经全世界闻名，这就是重庆的名胜了嘛。
开发商保留现场不变，收门票。
业主修个楼梯，继续营业。
重庆市以此为契机，拉动旅游业。
凡是参与和推动了这一历史事件的网友，享受五折优惠，可以去钉子户酒店消费。
多赢。
作者：牛牛的好　回复日期：2007-3-22　22:15:45
我在现场用手机上网，很慢，大家见凉！！
现在是最新的，趁着夜色，挖掘机，推土机，铲车已经开来了，法院的也来了
作者：lygmqh　回复日期：2007-3-22　23:55:25
最新消息！现场有人向网友透露，今天不拆，明天十点开听证会！
作者： zlvsszl　回复日期：2007-3-23　00:23:57
我刚从现场回来。
现场没想像中热闹。有200~300个重庆市民在附近的天桥、轻轨站台上支援老杨，离老杨坚守的堡垒大概有60~80米远！。。现场有个蔺姓的兄弟在组织大家吼老杨，雄起~~！老杨用电筒朝外面射了几下，以示回应！老杨是坚强的，老杨的稳重的！
对面楼上是各地的记者，他们给我们这边的其中一个人打了电话，叫大家继续吼，他们肯定拍下来了，明天，重庆人的声音~！雄起~这响亮的声音，将传到世界各地！我爱你们！重庆人民！中国人民！你们，当然，包括我！都是最棒的！
根据从下午就一直在现场的朋友反映，老杨几乎没有跟大家对过话！他肯定很累了！明天大家要想点实际行动来支持他！我们的英雄！
今晚肯定是拆不成了~ 我离开的时候大概是23：45，我建议大家尽量早点休息，也让老杨休息一下！明天他还要继续战斗！他是最勇敢的战士！
Across the way are journalists from all over the country. They phoned one of us over here and told us to keep shouting, they want to film it. Tomorrow, Chongqing's voice, ‘be brave’ resonating, throughout the world! We love you! Chongqing'ers! Chinese people! You, of course me too! We're the best!
Based on what friends were saying all afternoon, old Yang hasn't talked to anyone! He must be tired! Tomorrow everyone must think of some actions to support him! Our hero!
They definitely won't tear it down today. When I left it was about 23:45. I recommend everyone get to bed earlier, let old Yang get some rest! Tomorrow he will continue fighting! He's the bravest warrior!
Similar reports continue throughout the rest of the night, straight until 7:30 on the morning of March 23 when this post was finished. Here are some of the photos from Tianya:
Taitian, 23:32, March 21
今天云集了很多记者
Big, small and black, 11:01, March 22
（房主老公照片）
No money, no house, 14:34, March 22
房主的样子何其悲壮
Wanzhou skin-eating brutha, 15:13, March 22
现场已经正在封锁过程中，众多围观的普通市民都被大范围的栅栏隔离在施工范围之外
Edible Mushroom, 15:33, March 22
围观的
Edible Mushroom, 16:19, March 22
Give me back my money, 16:30, March 22
晚上做饭吃！
Big, small and black, 17:15, March 22
Sprint600, 22:51, March 22
杨武说：谁靠近就砸死谁！
Spring600, 23:12, March 22
夜幕下的孤岛
The First Pole, 00:13, March 23
……
Flying over the sea, 00:22, March 23
红旗飘飘！散打王成维权壮士！
And from Cat898 user ‘Let Me Win’, comes this photo:
“公民的合法的私有财产不受侵犯”!!!