Beijing owners up in arms as school’s admission rule crimps property values

Residents of a Beijing neighbourhood are up in arms amid concern that their property value will deteriorate from a sudden decision by a local public school that rejected their children’s enrolment.

Hundreds of parents living in the Zijinxinganxian community in Changping district staged protests on Tuesday and Wednesday after they were informed by the district’s education department that their children could not be enrolled at Huoying Primary School. Instead, they would have to attend another village school, with facilities considered substandard by many parents.

Watch: Protesters clash with police outside Beijing’s municipal office

The dispute matters because the prices of China’s residential property are often tied to their proximity to the nearest school district, a zoning regulation controlled by local authorities. The eruption of anger near the Chinese capital is the latest in a series of protests caused by housing and education in the past year.

Since the Beijing and Shanghai governments cracked down on apartments built on office and commercial plots three months ago, home owners have seen the market prices of their property plummet. Homes bought near top schools have also lost their lustre after parents found their children disqualified from attending those institutions.

“I feel so upset,” said Wang Lan, a Tsinghua University graduate and now a postdoctoral research fellow in Beijing. “We have been working so hard, and paying taxes in this city and now we get this. It is not only about poor schools, but more about fairness.”