Lack of consultation and information

Lack of consultation and information

One of the main sources of conflict arising during forced evictions is that residents often find out about the demolition of their residence a few days before the government expects them to move. A survey of Chinese laws and regulations on demolition and eviction shows that while some require demolition to be planned in accordance with existing plans (for example, in accordance with plans to preserve historic city areas, to protect the environment, or to develop the city), none require consultation with local residents.²⁴  Even vast resettlement and construction projects can be planned in the absence of any community consultation. There are no requirements in Chinese law that residents be consulted or notified about such a project.

Construction projects are often implemented and residents evicted with little or no advance notice.  In some extreme cases, residents return home from work to find the character chai (demolish) written on the walls of their houses, or even come home to find their house already demolished.²⁵   Demolition and eviction regulations do contain strict requirements in terms of the permits and approvals developers must obtain from local authorities, and the time limits within which those should be applied for and issued.²⁶  However, there are generally few or no requirements for advance notice to evictees.  Some regulations require that the developer inform residents within five days of receiving government approval of demolition plans, and others require detailed information be given to residents, but they do not specify how far in advance of the demolition notice should be provided.²⁷

Some residents allege that the information they receive regarding their eviction is intentionally misleading.  According to an article in Nanfang zhoumo [Southern Weekend], residents in Jinhua city, Zhejiang, said authorities claimed in a demolition notice that they were being relocated to make way for a “green belt.” Authorities used this reason to justify low compensation for the eviction and the refusal of residents’ request that they be resettled in the same neighborhood.  Evictees say they later learned that authorities were in fact building high-end private apartment blocks.²⁸ 

[24] See, e.g., Liaoning sheng Chengshi fangwu  chaiqian guanli banfa [Methods for the management of urban residential demolition and eviction in Liaoning province], September 29, 2002, art. 3;  Nei Menggu Chengshi fangwu  chaiqian guanli banfa [Methods for the management of urban residential demolition and eviction in Inner Mongolia], December 3, 2003, art. 3; Chengdushi Chengshi fangwu  chaiqian guanli zhixing banfa [Methods for the implementation of the management of urban residential demolition and eviction in Chengdu city], November 1, 2001, art. 3.

[25] You Shan, “Shangfang wuxiao: Qingdao chaiqianhu Zhongnanhai jingzuo hangyi [Petitioning brings no response:  Qingdao evictees stage peaceful sit-in protest at Zhongnanhai],” Radio Free Asia, November 21, 2003.

[26] “Requirements for the management of urban residential demolition and eviction.” Article 8 of the regulations states: “Residential demolition and eviction management departments and the demolishers should properly disseminate and explain [the project] to the residents in a timely manner.”

[27] “Methods for the implementation of the management of urban residential demolition and eviction in Chengdu city,” art. 9; “Methods for management of urban residential demolition and eviction in Dalian city,” art. 15.

[28] Cheng Gong, "Zhi chaiqian zhi tong (Treat the pains of demolition and eviction),” Southern Weekend, December 31, 2003.