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Kunming Residents Believe In Brother Chun To Save Homes

49 comments by maxiewawa on Thursday, December 17, 2009

kunming-china-eviction-demolition-protest-brother-chun-01

From Mop:

Faced with history’s most shocking eviction and demolition, residents seek Brother Chun’s help!

Recently Kunming has become a hotbed of problems. After the Luoshiwan Group incident and even with the anti-theft cage incident still in the news, on December 12, in a village in the northern district of Kunming, another incident involving violent eviction for demolition occurred. The cause was very simple, the people who were being evicted, due to the illegality of the government’s demolition (i.e. no demolition permit) and the extremely low amount of compensation unilaterally offered, refused to sign the agreement. This led to the relevant authorities mobilizing almost a hundred chengguan to forcefully evict for demolition. The scene was extremely violent. There were pol.ice keeping order, and later even firefighters came to help.

As the chengguan were bashing the door, over the edge of the roof of the house and out of the window of the fourth floor appeared some women who were preparing to protest with their lives. But they overestimated the humanity of our great chengguan; there were two plain clothes guys (I think they were were underlings) who said, pointing at the women preparing to jump, “If you want to die, then jump! Jump!”. They then gestured for the chengguan to continue their efforts at knocking down the door.

I finally saw that the martial arts skills of Kunming’s chengguan are far from perfection. First there were two of them taking turns to kick at the door without success, then another two of them climbed up to a door on the second floor of the apartment next door, attempting a flanking maneuver.

Seeing them holding onto the fence/gate railing behind their bodies, feet dangling in the air, using Huang Feihong‘s Foshan shadowless kick attack to wildly kick at the door, from their motions alone, I can describe in one word: handsome, in three words: really stupefyingly handsome, only except that it was all for show, and after numerous kicks, the door remained unmoved and soon after, they could only angrily come back down to the ground floor. From now on if someone says how strong Kunming’s chengguan are, I’ll be the first to dispute it. Even so, this door could still apply for the 2009 award for the “stoniest” door, and win the prestigious prize.

Although they’d tried twice without success, our chengguan didn’t lose heart at all, they quickly scanned their surroundings, and immediately came up with a new idea. Next to a wall were some cement pillars. A few chengguan walked there and picked one up together, and carried it back to the door staggering under the weight.

Heh heh, this made me think back to how they’d attack castles in ancient times, and you could see that our chengguan were quite clever, and don’t just take taxpayers’ money without working. Next, I rejoiced: luckily these chengguan weren’t born during the Qin Dynasty, or we wouldn’t be able to see the Great Wall today.

I was just confused that our People and our go-vern-ment have such a big obstacle between us, that they have to behave like they have a family vendetta, or have stolen someone’s wife. They even use tools for attacking castles; does this not push the People to one side?

I don’t know if the cement pillar was too heavy or a leader ordered it, but they finally weren’t able to knock down the door. They put down the pillar and got together to talk about what they were going to do next.

Then I don’t know why, but the chengguan gave up on their violent demolition, resuming their positions encircling the house, with the people on the roof and in the windows grimly hanging in there. I was really worried that someone would get tired and lose their grip. If this happened Kunming would have another Tang Fuzheng.

When it got to 5 pm the chengguan, police guards and fire fighters finally dispersed bit by bit, and and I finally was able to breathe a sigh of relief. I thought to myself how lucky the occupants were, they’d be able to live in their houses for at least another night.

But as I looked up I saw something that made me gasp: on the side of the house hung, in large characters: “BELIEVE IN BROTHER CHUN, AND YOUR HOUSE WONT BE DEMOLISHED”.

kunming-china-eviction-demolition-protest-brother-chun-01

The banner in the front is also really shocking/amusing, it’s just that I don’t dare to read it.

[Middle banner: "General Secretary, you wouldn't let your people suffer any injustice, [would you]?”]

kunming-china-eviction-demolition-protest-brother-chun-02

So sad, and there are even people below provoking/taunting them. Note that there are 3 people in the picture.

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The Foshan Shadowless Kick VS The Stone Door.

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Before their [the government chengguan/demolishers] all-conquering power, the residents are like a small chicken, easily picked up and taken away.

kunming-china-eviction-demolition-protest-brother-chun-05

春哥, chun ge, “Brother Chun”, or literally “Spring Brother” (‘spring’ as in the season, not the coiled piece of wire), is a popular nickname for Super Girl winner Li Yuchun, who has become famous for being a tomboy. A kind of virtual religion has sprung up around Brother Chun, with netizens extolling that devout belief in Brother Chun brings eternal happiness, immortality, and other rewards. Whether believers follow Brother Chun as a kind of inside joke or if they have earnestly pious feelings I’ll leave for you to decide.]

Comments from Mop:

八服赤眉刀:

We’re already used to this.

风之殇alone:

Haha, Brother Chun has become a God of many types, a God of exams, a God of finance, a God of jiong…

loveFcup:

They should have stuck a photo of Brother Chun Ge a Grass Mud Horse on the door…

么么我的蛋糕:

I must say one thing: You can’t just look on the surface of things…

My family bought some land. We wanted to demolish and build a new neighborhood.

And when we went to negotiate with the residents, and any reasonable request we accept.

But some residents’ requests were over the top, wanting 10 square meters for each square meter [of their original residence], how could you accept this?

Actually, there are people behind them manipulating things. We know. Other property developers spend money to have them to defend it to the death. For each day they hold out is one day I lose.

Finally, I didn’t have a choice, and spent money hiring people to knock it down…we’re all people…if you don’t show understanding for me, why should I show understanding for you? If people weren’t forced to a certain degree, who would choose to be like this/do these things?

≥六翼天使≤:

I agree with the above poster. My dad’s company developed a plot of land, and a lot of people were satisfied with a 1:1 exchange [compensation of dwellings equal in size to their demolished homes], yet even with this, there would still be people who weren’t satisfied with that. One guy had an apartment of about 70 square meters, but wanted to be given a 50 square meter shopfront plus a 100 square meter apartment…

These people are just crazy about money, wouldn’t it be more appropriate for if they just went and stole it?

拯救失足小萝莉:

Fuck your entire family’s hukou.

What right have you [the above two posters] have to demand people who have lived in the same house for decades to sell when you want them to sell, and to forcefully demolish their houses if they aren’t willing to do so? At this juncture, I’d like to see your entire family’s hukou.

If I asked you to sell something your ancestors had passed down to you, would you? SB

Everyone else in this forum, please form a queue to beat these two SB.

妖精的旋律001:

Believing in the go-vern-ment isn’t as good as believing in Brother Chun!

艺达:

Believing in Brother Chun is strength… even with the shadowless foot attack the door couldn’t be opened… Brother Chun was watching over it.

Brother Chun watches over chinaSMACK personals.

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42 Comments

  1. Tins of sardines
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    I think I remember a protest south of Tiananmen square in 2008 by residents and farmers kicked out of Beijing and surrounding areas for Olympic developments.

    Their argument was that “China’s glory was built of the pain and suffering of it’s peasants”.

    True dat.

    I live near Kunming and even that place is a complete shithole, I hope these people fight for their homes and don’t let the greedy bastards take their identity and stability.

    Reply
    • John Gault
      Friday, December 18, 2009 at 2:57 am

      As far as kunming goes, its way above the average chinese city and no where near a shit hole.

      I understand completely how people get so pissed when their homes are taken. there really isnt a dollar amount that can replace your house sometimes.

      But i dont understand why chinese people are so surprised and upset when it happens, though. they have one party that is accountable to no one, controls the whole country, and does whatever the hell it wants. what, exactly, did they expect? its not rocket science….

      Reply
      • Dagny Taggart
        Friday, December 18, 2009 at 12:51 pm

        Getting evicted from your home isn’t much different from a foreclosure, guess a dual party political system won’t make you feel any safer either. Amazingly simplistic thinking from someone who reads Ayn Rand, or did you?

        Reply
        • taihanasie
          Friday, December 18, 2009 at 1:23 pm

          You are overlooking something very important. In a system which honors private property, which has fairly enforced laws, and which has a legal system to address grievances, there are usually less violent and less controversial ways to evict someone from their property. Foreclosures suck, but when you feel the bank/government has done you wrong, you can take the bank/government to court and get a hearing, one which will probably be judged by a relatively neutral party. The likelihood that someone will show up to demolish your house on the sly, while you are still inside, is slim to nil.

          Here is where many people misunderstand this Chinese problem. The problem is in the process, which leads to the inflammatory results. In a one-party state, there is no political competition, and it is through political competition of parties seeking to be the better servents of the people that you arrive at enhanced systemic fairness.

          Reply
        • John Gault
          Friday, December 18, 2009 at 11:12 pm

          if you get evicted from your home its because you cant pay for it so you shouldnt be there and should live in a cheaper place or save more money. you dont own the home, the bank does. they have agreed to let you live in it as long as you make the payments on time (plus interest, of course).

          getting evicted because you cant pay for something is quite different than the government coming in and telling you to move, don’t you think?

          besides, the bank doesn’t want the house anyway. they made a loan for the interest and money, not for the house. its in the banks (and private entrepreneurs best interests) to have people who pay their loans on time, thus making their investment worth something.

          however, the government is simply taking what they want. what’s worse, they are taking something that doesnt belong to them with money that they took (taxes) from people who earned it by WORKING.

          im not for a 2 party system. im for a no party system and for the government staying the hell out of peoples lives in most respects, letting people do what they want as long as they arent killing, raping or bothering other people.

          Reply
          • Dagny Taggart
            Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 12:17 am

            Banks don’t hold on to your mortgage note, after they lend you the money to purchase the home, they immediately resell to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are “government” enterprises in their true nature. Hence, the largest holder of mortgage notes is the government. So yes, getting evicted and foreclosures are indeed the same thing, the only difference is method. If you believe the “competitive nature” amongst multiple political parties fighting for administrative power benefits the people you’re truly wrong. It’s not even a good enough scenario to be the lesser of two evils. The truth is, people don’t know what’s best for themselves, an individual can be intelligent, even a genius, but a group of people (voters or average citizens) are always stupid. You have to remember that at all times, there are at least half the population with below average IQ. Government and control is needed for stable societal progression, and we should never overestimating the abilities of the “people”.

          • John Gault
            Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 1:45 am

            you are 100 correct that Fannie and Freddie did buy it. they (banks) also package these mortgages as securities and sell them on Wall Street. the banks, (surprise, surprise) knew that these mortgages were worth nothing and unloaded them as fast a possible.

            but if you can pay for something, again, there would be no foreclosure. i am in no way for any government (2 party system or otherwise) meddling, like they did with the community investment and development act which created the sub prime mortgage mess, in the private lending of banks or business (like freddie and fannie did). the FED should not even print money, IMO.

            perhaps you are right that the u.s. system is “less evil”, and perhaps only slightly, but i am not in any way arguing for a u.s. type system. far from it – i believe the u.s. is headed in the complete wrong direction and anyone who holds U.S. dollars is going to see their assets and wealth completely evaporate in coming years.
            (crash proof by peter schiff is a good and easy read for further information)

            i believe that people will do just fine and act in their best interests if they are left alone, with their conscience, consequences and personal responsibility to guide them, which is perhaps where we differ, ideologically speaking.

            while there is considerable evidence that people need control and do stupid things (i myself have done some dumb stuff), i consider any such attempt to control me or control others the extreme height of arrogance and narcissism. to tell me what i should do with my money, my time, my business, my life, my talent and my resources (after i have reached adult age) is the very definition of hubris, i think.

            i realize many people do not see it as such (nice people like yourself) and they only want to help, i think. but to help people who do not want it is really insulting, to me, anyway. naturally some people might like it.

            i wish there was one place, just one, in the whole world where you could do what you wanted without the government or some group sticking their nose in your business, telling you what to do, and you could live, die, and survive on your own talent, hard work and merit. i think america used to be that place. it’s not anymore.

          • Alikese
            Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 2:26 am

            Keep in mind that Western Countries have systems to take a person’s land as well. Eminent Domain in the US and Canada, and Compulsory Purchase in the UK will allow the government to take your land to facilitate the construction of a train track, or highway, and that pisses people off over here all the time. It’s not quite as underhanded and common as it is in China, The plans are always on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’

          • Dagny Taggart
            Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 3:04 am

            The fundamental difference in our beliefs is the capacity of people. It’s naive to think that morals, conscience, consequences and personal responsibility can existed in a society without a structured government. Humans are just as savage as animals and hardwired to do one thing only, survive. If “uncontrolled” and “unchecked” what’s to stop us from bludgeoning each other to death all day? The “Government free land” you seek might just as well be filled with murders, rapists and other violent criminals. You gotta take the good with the bad. We don’t live in a perfect world, far from it, but it’s the best we can do with what we have and who we are. Primal nature compels us to fight against control, just like no animal likes to be trapped, but logic is showing us that we have to consider the bigger picture, that control and stability is a fair trade.

          • yournametobynow
            Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 10:49 am

            @John Gault

            Christ, you’re a fucking idiot. First of all, people in China don’t borrow money to buy houses. They buy them in cash. Mortgages are really uncommon here. Also, when you buy land in China – it doesn’t belong to you! The most you can get here is a 30-year lease, though I think you can get longer leases on farmland or in rural areas.

            These people aren’t being evicted because they didn’t pay money – they are being evicted because the government decided to knock down their building and let someone do something else with the land.

            But I’m sure you’ll just rattle on about mortgages and irresponsible people and quietly when the government sends people to knock down your home so they can put up luxury highrises.

            I’m sure you won’t feel like these people should give you something more than a new apartment that’s exactly the same size, nevermind that you have to go live with relatives for a year while they put up the new building.

          • too yellow
            Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 2:50 am

            @yournametobynow
            not anymore, most people buy houses with morgage now our days. only corrupted official and capitalist pigs could buy a house in cash now. As for these people, two scenarios:
            1. They are not satisfied with the pay out for their home. i.e. if their home is only 20 sq. meters, their will be paid only for the 20sq. meters. Which could not buy another house in the area for the simple fact there isn’t a 20 sq. meter house now our days.

            2. They missed the boat in housing reform in the 90′s and in fact does not own the house. My late grandma belong to that category. at the time, the house is available to her for 20,000 yuan about 1/20 on market price, but rent on the house is 30 yuan a month. She figures it’s cheaper to pay the rent. But ten years later, the house is coming down, she has to live with my dad.

          • too yellow
            Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 2:55 am

            on the other hand, my other grandma (from mother side) just hopes the place she lives in get teared down. Since her place is 90 sq. meters, and pay out would be enough to buy another place. Since the place she lives one has no elevators, and she lives on 5th floor. And the new place would have better old people access.

          • yournametobynow
            Friday, December 25, 2009 at 3:22 am

            i think it depends on where you live.. i have a friend who sells real estate in zhengzhou (admittedly not a top-tier city) and she says most people do not use mortgages to buy apartments from her. also they usually buy the apartments before the buildings even go up. some of them do it as investment, some as homes, some to buy houses for their sons to eventually live in. they might borrow money from family members to do it but they don’t borrow from banks.

            but with real estate prices in the bigger cities probably you’d have to borrow money to buy anything. one thing i really don’t understand is that the prices for apartments my friend tells me are way more expensive than they should be, considering what it costs to rent the same apartment. in the long run, even, it seems way cheaper to just rent. which is the opposite of the situation in the USA.

    • LAOWAIXIAN
      Friday, December 18, 2009 at 4:59 pm

      shit is all that comes out of your mouth, be polite dude

      Reply
      • Dagny Taggart
        Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 12:18 am

        When you sit down at a poker table, the polite ones are always the worst poker players. If you want people to be polite, lead by example, watch your choice or words.

        Reply
  2. Jimmy
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 9:44 pm

    Kunming is far from a shithole, especially by the standards of your average Chinese city. It has great weather, fine food, friendly people, is pretty clean and has relatively low pollution levels. It’s also on the doorstep to some of the most beautiful places in China. Hardly a shithole.

    That said, it does have serious traffic issues and the chengguan are indeed dicks, but doesn’t that account for most Chinese cities?

    Reply
  3. 农民
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 11:12 pm

    what can you do if you are a member of weak group?protest?posting on the internet?骂大街(call names in the street)?these efforts prove futile,don’t they?

    Reply
  4. Brea
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 8:51 am

    I felt the need to share with you the story of Jason Bromby, a 28-year-old British diplomat who has gone missing in China. This is very scary. Read more about it:

    http://www.maolovesyou.com

    Spread the word, something needs to be done.

    Reply
    • aquadraht
      Friday, December 18, 2009 at 5:26 pm

      Sounds sort of psycho. If anything has to be done there, ask the UK embassy for.

      Reply
      • beowulf
        Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 7:54 am

        look at the last side – its a fake.

        “If your curiosity has led you to this page, then you no doubt know that the Chinese characters written at the bottom of http://www.maolovesyou.com are a disclaimer that loosely read, “This story is entirely fiction. Nothing you have read is real.”

        So why then would two grown men spend so much time coming up with an elaborate untruth? What lessons can we learn from the tale of Jason Bromby?

        We will allow you to answer these questions in your own mind. Whether you think this site is stupid or clever, we hope that it, at least for a moment, made you stop and evaluate the world that is rushing by outside your window.

        The Authors – December 14, 2009
        “

        Reply
      • beowulf
        Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 8:00 am

        “My name is Adam Coughlin and I am a writer of no significance. I do, however, have a vision for the future of fiction. I fear, and my fears are validated by statistics, that fiction, and in particular the short story, is dead as we know it. But I love fiction too much to watch its unceremonious demise. Short stories no longer need to be buried in the dust laced shelves of a library. I say, give them dimension. Let them come to life!

        That is why my next story, which I am writing with the deviously genius David Bartram, will take shape and form online. We are publishing a simple story about a young British diplomat named Jason Bromby who sees the world and wants to change it. But change comes at a cost and in the end he pays a heavy price.”

        You can read it all at http://www.maolovesyou.com.

        http://adamcoughlin.blogspot.com/

        Bin schon gespannt wie lange es dauert bis die Story in den deutschen Medien auftaucht ;-)
        Bin mir sicher, da glühen schon in ein paar Redaktionen die Finger.

        Reply
  5. Hongjian
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 8:52 am

    Haha!

    looks like Teacher Qiu’s (The new mayor of Kunming Qiu He) is finally beginning his great plan of restructuring the whole city, which was seriously damaged by corrupt governours and incompetend officials before him.
    Basically he wants to turn Kunming into the major economic-centre of South Asia, with top-notch trading infrastructures to Vietnam, Thailand, Burma etc.
    Also his plan to make this city into the ‘Green city of eternal spring’ seems already to be in motion: The Dianchi (lake Dian) which is heavily polluted in the past 15 years, will be completely cleaned, dug, renewed and purified with water from the himalayas.
    His battle against corruption and incompetency was also pretty successful in the cityHe basically gave the order, that no official in the city-beaurocracy shall go to sleep, before he is finished with his work. And usually he’s working 20 hours a day, with only 4 hours of sleep. Before him, the city-officials passed their days with cigaretts and newspapers, but now, if someone has been caught with slacking off, or taking bribes, he will be personally kicked from his position by Qiu He.
    People are calling him either Teacher Qiu, or ‘the city dictator’, since he’s always acting without any compromises, driving with his bike through the city, inspecting the development on his own and never trusting anyone of his subordinates.
    After all, he took the ‘Iron Chancellor’ Bismarck as his role model, and he’s pretty like him.

    So, I ding this shit.

    Not because I’m originally a Kunmingren, but also because he is an awesome badass. China needs more people like him!

    Reply
    • Tins of sardines
      Friday, December 18, 2009 at 3:37 pm

      If what you are saying is true and not just some over zealous reaction to something you read on the web, then he will probably be shot before new years.

      You can’t shake the board when to many people above you will be shaken too.

      However, if this works out then good on him and good for you. At least you can say you were right.

      Reply
    • Hongjian
      Friday, December 18, 2009 at 11:17 pm

      IIRC he’s personally backed by Hu Jintao, who discovered his outstanding organisational abilities in Shuxian, Zhejiang-province, which he turned from a shithole into a prosperours city with low corruption rates.
      He was then send to Kunming by His orders,since this citie’s development stagnated for nearly 10 years because of incompetent governours.

      Like said, I’m born in Kunming and go back there nearly every year. So I see his brutal development policies everyday. Nowadays the lower officials are forced to go onto the streets to collect garbage. Shit is so cash.

      And yeah. We all expect him to die an unnatural death, since he has shaken the board pretty much. If not by the murder, then at least by overworking. And this cant be prevented by Hu jintao himself.

      Reply
  6. IG
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    Wow, it’s interesting that you finally get real estate developers on the forums. Their points are not entirely illegitimate. There exists some really greedy and shameless common people in China. The weak party is not always virtuous and the strong party is not always the unreasonable one.

    Reply
  7. ImmortalTechnique
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    The Chengguan using mah nigga Huang FeiHong’s NO SHADOW KICK for evil. Let’s get Porky Wing in here with his mad cleaver skills to deal with ‘em

    Reply
  8. Ming
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    Believe in brother Chun, I shall get a 3some this christmas with 2 jap twins.

    Reply
  9. jay7
    Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    brother chun!! hahaha, that is some funny sh*t! it just made my day even better!

    Reply
  10. Joey
    Monday, December 21, 2009 at 9:04 am

    Chinasmack.com users come from these countries:
    35.9% China
    26.3% United States
    5.6% India
    2.9% Singapore
    2.6% Canada
    ——————————————————————
    GOOD News from ALEXA

    Reply
  11. Mercator
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 12:29 pm

    In brief, it will be an exciting time in history for all amateur and professional sinologists.

    Assuming of course that the amateur or professional sinologist is smart enough to be outside of China when everything kicks off.

    Reply
  12. John Gault
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 11:42 pm

    im sorry but I dont understand how this is capitalism. in a completely free market, capitalistic system, no one would have to sell (for any price, however high) if they didnt want to. no one would have to leave their house or have it demolished since its theirs. no one could take anything (that was paid for) from its owner.

    capitalism isnt money rules and so if you have $$ you can do whatever you want and take peoples stuff, its the market that determines everything and a persons individual right to possess whatever they can afford.

    obviously i completely agree with you that the chinese posters who bitch about not being able to take other people’s property are tards.

    getting the chenggunan to help isnt capitalism. what do the local authorities have to do with a business transaction? if one party doesnt want to sell, there is no transaction, end of story. no police can come in and say they must sell or move, no judges to say they must do something, permits or anything in a pure capitalistic system. they dont have to do a thing they dont want to.

    taking someone’s property and “stuff” just because you want it or could pay the market price for it isnt part of capitalism. no one has a “right” to take anything that they didnt earn or is someone elses.

    Reply
  13. Alikese
    Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 3:06 am

    It’s tough to say who to support. Considering that Pusan Playa is a sociopath, an egomaniac, and a Korean I have to imagine that his rule would somewhat resemble Kim Jong-Il’s, and I’m not ready to follow a Pusan Playa personality cult.

    Based solely upon skimming through a couple of his posts I think Kai would be in the Chen Lusheng class of drinkers and would thus be unworthy to lead us.

    Our resident Mongolian might be a fierce warrior and experienced general, but… he also would rape our wives and daughters, so I think I’d have to vote no.

    No, the smart man’s vote is on Fauna. She clearly has the ability to put up with us, she fights like Jason Statham, and I have to imagine that she drinks like a Wuhan taxi driver. Vote Fauna Warrior-Czar of China in the upcoming apocalypse.

    Reply
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