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Activist pleads for doomed hutongs

As Beijing fast-tracks urban redevelopment to prepare for the 2008 Olympics, a neighbourhood activist is trying to prevent the residents of 2,000 run-down houses in Beijing's hutongs from being displaced or left in poverty.

Most residents of two alleys in the Jiaodaokou area could not afford the 10,000-20,000 yuan (HK$9,400-18,800) required to move into one of the 13-storey apartment buildings that will replace their courtyard-style homes, the activist said.

The old stone and brick houses, part of old Beijing's hutong alley network, are set for demolition this month. The city has torn down hutongs, aiming to get rid of all but well-maintained buildings in the city centre.

According to a recent edition of the neighbourhood newsletter Dongcheng Today, the 5,000 people living in the Jiaodaokou hutongs endure winds in the winter and leaks from rain in the summer. The houses are considered dangerous enough for demolition. Most are crumbling, with grass growing on the roofs.

The newsletter said displaced families would get at least 1,485 yuan per square metre. It did not say what the new flats would cost.

The activist, who grew up in another of Beijing's hutongs and has spoken to disenchanted people in the Jiaodaokou area, said the two alleys were well-built, put together during the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution.

Other Beijingers believe demolition leads to better homes for residents, although the residents may need to pay for upgrades.

Foreign tourists, who are expected to visit en masse around the 2008 Olympic season, often seek out old Beijing, taking tours of hutongs or walking around the 400-year-old neighbourhoods and taking photographs.

State media recently urged tourists to see the 'Old Beijing' shopping street in the Wangfujing district.

The year-old district includes a teahouse, stores and snack stands in the basement of the Sundongan shopping mall.

The activist said each Jiaodaokou hutong household made an average of 1,000 yuan per month. Many people were laid off, she said.

To pay off bank loans for the new homes, she said, residents would spend 680 yuan per month. Many would instead move to the suburbs, where housing is cheaper, she said, although neighbourhood officials were pressuring them to buy the new flats that will replace the hutong homes.

The activist appealed to foreign businesses and media to help save the hutongs, saying she doubted the city Government would listen to her. 'The government view is, 'We want to make a new Beijing, so we destroy the old one',' she said.

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