Deng Yaoxiong calls himself a laoguang, the colloquial term for a native of Guangzhou, who was born and grew up in Liwan, one of the city's historic and most attractive neighbourhoods.
Until July 1997, Deng lived in a flat inherited from his father. Employed as a driver, his income was modest, but owning his tiny flat in an established district with a good hospital and schools meant life was secure.
But everything changed one summer 13 years ago. Wanjingde, a developer that locals believed was well connected with the then Guangdong party chief, Xie Fei, bought the site where Deng and other residents lived from the city government.
The developer promised to turn a dilapidated area on Daihe Road (now Kangwang Road) into a modern community. Then the government posted a notice at the main gate of their complex setting a deadline for the 420 families who had been living in the area for generations to move out. Neither the authorities nor Wanjingde explained their plans, and the residents didn't express their dismay.
'It was an order,' Deng said. 'In those days, everyone trusted the government. Radical actions were outside our imagination.'
Despite pledges they could return after the redevelopment, Deng and all his former neighbours are still unable to move back to the area where their parents and grandparents had grown up. Over time they have accepted the harsh reality that their properties are gone forever, but a dozen of them continue to fight for fair compensation.
In the massive redevelopments transforming mainland cities, the experiences of Deng and his fellow residents are relatively commonplace, but their complaints are rarely exposed in the domestic or foreign media, nor do they become major public issues.