China: Nation’s first citizen reporter? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Meet Zola Zhou, independent citizen reporter, blogging live from the nailhouse.
But is Zola really China's first citizen reporter? Big-name bloggers like Herock, Doubleleaf and Zhan Bin say he is. Out of what Zola says is a ‘sensitivity to news’ and desire for fame, on Monday afternoon he hopped on the train, arriving in Chongqing two days later. Armed with a Lenovo cellphone and one thousand RMB, Zola is determined to cover the nailhouse story where domestic media currently cannot.
The subheading on Zola's blog reads (in English) “you never know what you can do till you try”; a March 23rd post which unpacks the meaning behind a meme now making its way around the Chinese blogsphere, ‘vote with your feet’ [用脚投票], and a second post from the same day looking at the nailhouse situation ends with a wager on how many more days the house would remain standing. Two blog posts later, Zola begins blogging from ground zero:
众所周知，这种涉及官方政府的新闻肯定会有一些报道不能面世，或者新闻稿件被不知名的”相关部门”的要求下删除。之前在新浪有一个BLOG在全程24小时报道，但后来那个BLOG消失了。所以我意识到这是一次机会，我决定千里迢迢来重庆明查暗访，企图了解多方观点。这也许是一个于公于私都非常有益的举动。于公，可以让更多的人了解到政府是不是依法办事的政府，拆迁户的户主吴苹和杨武是不是守法的公民；于私，如果我因此花上几天时间加上几百块钱路费而名声大振的话，我将来可以有更多的社会资源用来成就一番事业。如果你能理解，请留言支持我。
从重庆火车站坐207到达杨家坪站，然后去吃米粉，顺便和米粉店老板交流了一下。米粉店老板所了解到的是，据说吴苹他们索价2000万，房地产管理局在报纸上说”不会接受漫天要价”，米粉店老板认为钉子户的户主做得太过份了。我吃完又麻又辣的米粉后，在他们指的方向下继续找”钉子”，结果碰到一个正拿着报纸去上班的男青年，他说让我跟他走就行。我询问他的看法，他表示支持吴苹和杨武，他还告诉我，吴苹他们的父辈是人大代表。快到钉子户大坑的时候，他指给我看透过房子与房子之间的空隙看到的杨武的房子顶上的国旗，然后他就与我分手了。我于是找制高点拍摄这一奇景，结果发现旁边有一个轻轨站台，叫杨家坪站。重庆没有地下铁，只有这种”地上铁”，叫轻轨。我登上站台后才发现，杨武之所以在自家房顶上放一个写着”公民的合法私有财产不受侵犯”的白条幅，是因为这个白色条幅会让来来往往的轻轨乘客看到，并且许多乘客在站台上以那个房子为背景用手机拍照留念。这也就是重庆钉子户之所以声名远扬的重要因素之一。并且这块区域是一个黄金区域，附近有一个步行街，轻轨站也带来许多人流，这块区域更显得寸土寸金了。谁都知道，在上海、北京、广州和深圳等有地铁的城市，拥有地铁站出口的便利的商品房就会特别贵。
我从站台上拍了几张照片后，然后绕到工地的围墙的大门口附近，也就是杨武的房子背向的那边。门口紧闭着，门内有六七个穿保安制服的人在里面聊天。门上面有一块牌子，上面写着”施工场地，为了您的安全，未经引领允许，不得进入”，我转了一圈，可能是去得太早的缘故，没有发现记者蹲守。然后我买了四份不同的报纸，找了一个地方坐下来慢慢看，结果没有发现与”最牛钉子户”的报道，旁边有人告诉我，昨天的报纸就有报导。后来，来了一个五六十多岁的老人，我以为他也想看报纸，我就把另一份报纸递给他，他没看，于是我问他知不知钉子户的事，想不到他居然不正面回答我，而是说了一句很让我震撼的话：” 啥子钉子户哦，那是当官的给他们起的名字！”这让我很惊奇，我于是掏出手机打开录音功能，我求他再说一次以便我将这么深刻的说法放到网上给人听听，可是他说，录音我就不讲了，然后告诉我”他们只是维权”就走开了。原来他们以为我是记者了。后来，又来了一位抱着孙子的退休教师，她告诉我，吴苹他们没有什么背景，长辈不是人大代表，杨武的儿子在读书（应朋友们提醒，已经隐去儿子的相关介绍，请转载的朋友相应改动一下）”。杨武一家在那里开火锅店是开得最早的，生意是最好的，他们没有开价2000万，他们的房子被估价250万，房地产开发商加100万价，共是愿意支付350万给钉子户，但他们只要求”原地点，原面积，原朝向”的房子，他们不要钱。她还告诉我，她说她以前在铁马集团的房子也是被恐吓下拆迁的，当时是”工人下岗、干部撤职”的行政手段让他们屈服的，杨武他们之所以敢硬颈，就是因为他们是个体户，不受体制内的胁迫。
From here, Zola goes back to the lightrail station and makes an unexpected discovery, those from around the country with experiences similar to Yang and Wu's who, in hopes of bringing attention to their cases, flocked to Chongqing, waiting around the nailsite for anyone willing to listen. He tells the story of a 64 year-old Mrs. Liu from Chongqing who insists she was greatly undercompensated for her house after it too was torn down in the city's Huaxin village, Yu district. Zola also tells the story of 48 year-old army veteran Mr. Chen from Zhuhai, in southern China's Guangdong province, whose building was torn down after residents were beaten and lured out, who lost with the house the money he had borrowed to pay for it. After petitioning to Beijing, a letter was sent down to petition authorities in Guangdong province, from there to Zhuhai city, where, Zola writes of Chen's story, it was not opened. Chen demanded it be read and addressed, at which point the Zhuhai petition office threatened to call the police unless Chen left, which he did. Chen rushed to Chongqing after seeing the Phoenix TV report on the nailhouse, hoping to make his story known to reporters there covering the story.
They asked if I was a reporter, Zola writes, which I told them I am not, that I only run my own small website, but that its contents would not be deleted:
我说我想看一下相关资料，于是，陈先生带我去他那里拿U盘里的资料，然后刘奶奶也说要我去化龙桥看一下，看能不能也报道一下。于是刘老太和我一起去陈生下塌的地方，拿了一些资料，看了一些照片，我决定帮他发在我的网站上，利用SEO技术让更多的人知道这些事情。我拿了资料要走的时候，陈生掏出几百块钱塞给我，说是给我的路费。我从来没有见过这种场面，我从来没有想过帮人家发稿子就能拿钱，我坚持不要，我说我只是出于正义感而帮你，也不一定有什么效果，我说你要感谢我，就请我吃饭吧。他同意了。其实，我的真实想法是，我若收了他的钱，那我和蓝成长有什么区别？收了第一次辛苦费，也许我还会去收第二次，这会离我展现正义感的初衷会越来越远。
告别了陈生，我和老太坐车去化龙桥。我接到陈生的电话，说是要帮我订一个房间，我也就心安理得的接受。反正我也要在九龙坡呆几天报道钉子户的事件。
在车上遇到一位中年教师，他用普通话告诉我，钉子户确实没有背景，但他们抓住了政府的软肋。这件事的关键的关键是，地产商还没有获得所有拆迁户的同意就擅自破土动工，政府监管失职；还有就是，九龙坡区没有一块绿地，这块地在规划中是公园，但政府卖给房地产开发商建造商品房，这是政府不对。这才是19号下判决，本应该在22日的时候就拆除，但至今仍未拆除的真正原因，这里面有内幕交易。他还说，并且还有搞笑的不合理的地方是，本来是房地产商应该上法院告杨武吴苹夫妇，但居然原告是九龙坡房管局。也就是说，本来是房子可卖可不卖的民事纠纷变成了行政诉讼。
到了化龙桥，那里一片狼籍，很多信宅楼都空了，还有百分之十的住户由于无处可去而不得不留在那里，都是一些老头老太，他们”摆开龙门阵”，跟我讲，政府用 “吓哄骗”的手段让他们服从，而且有不戴肩章的穿制服的人打人，不按市场价给补偿，安置房又是旧房。他们说他们的声音无法发出，所以希望我写写放在网上。我拍了一些照片
In his next post later the same day, Zola writes of having met homeowner Wu Ping, blogging her answers to the two questions he asked her:
Zola and nailhouse owner, Wu Ping
１、网上有消息说你开出天价索赔2000万，昨天的贵阳晚报和重庆的报纸都报道房管局的声明”不接受漫天要价”，许多报道都说你要求”同地点、同面积、同朝向”的房子，你的真实态度和条件是什么？
吴苹回答：我不要钱。我要的是同面积，在现在动土的这个范围内，左右均可。
２、网上面和我今天调查的部分群众都认为你家里有背景，说你家的长辈是人大代表，请问你们有没有背景？
吴苹回答：法律就是我的背景。
Is Zola on this story for the long haul? Nice work if you can get it, jump on the train and the story and worry about finances later. Zola's last post on the 28th lists several way readers can support his citizen media venture financially:
1. PayBaby (支付宝)
2. His Merchants Bank account: 0755-30718139
3. Put money into either one of his cellphone numbers: 13926536501 or 13467668333.
And aside from asking readers not to re-submit comments if they don't immediately appear, Zola leaves his Bullog space address in case one day his own blog is rendered unreachable, and urges readers to add links to either of those two spaces to their GTalk, MSN, Skype or QQ names.
Zola's next post goes through some of the photos he's been taking, starting with the people like Mr. Chen and Ms. Liu mentioned above, with others coming from Zhuhai, Chengdu, Shanghai, Xian and Guangzhou:
She has it tougher than the others, Zola writes. She spent all night standing outside and even tried a flashmob, going up into the lightrail station which overlooks the nailpit and whipping out a banner expressing support for Yang Wu:
Who along with his wife Wu Ping, had this banner made up for him by one resident of Xi'an:
“To Heroes in Defending Private Property Rights Yang Wu and Wu Ping”
There's Japanese and domestic (Guangzhou) TV crews still in the area, as well as patrol cops, who have installed surveillance cameras on buildings and even on a tree next to the gate to the fenced-off hole.
A post today presents two minute-long, soundless videos Zola shot with his cellphone, showing the nailhouse still standing, and who's still watching.
Not that much news yet today, but from the sounds of it, Zola has no plans to head home yet. One post from this morning expands on his motivation for experimentation with citizen reporting, possibly a follow-up from yesterday's post on ‘the impotence of mainland media‘, and a precursor to his latest post, an angry rant aimed at a Ta Kung Pao reporter to whom he proves to be of some help, only to then catch her in a lie.