The houses in Dragon Pearl Garden may have cracked pipes and sinking foundations, but the hundreds of people living in this faded neighbourhood in Shanghai have no intention of leaving any time soon.
A government offer worth Rmb12mn ($1.6mn) — three Rmb4mn apartments for each household — is nowhere near enough to persuade the residents to leave. “I will stick to my house unless the government pays me Rmb20mn to relocate,” said one resident surnamed Wang.
The stand-off highlights the challenges facing China’s plan to revitalise the property sector partly through redevelopment of the sometimes historic and often poorly maintained buildings in older neighbourhoods, or so-called urban villages.