At the age of 46 and facing imminent eviction, Xia Rei Mi finds himself on the losing side of Shanghai's urban relocation policy. Once set amid a thriving community in the central Jing'an district, his house is now surrounded by piles of rubble, broken pipes and twisted metal.
'They have torn down the houses of all my neighbours and friends,' he said. 'We are the last ones living here and the government wants us out soon.'
Mr Xia is one of many urban residents across China whose traditional-style housing is set to be demolished to make way for new development. Shanghai has been relocating people at a rate of 80,000 a year since 2000. On top of that, 400,000 will be moved to Shanghai's suburbs by 2007 to clear ground for exhibition halls and shopping areas to be built in time for the 2010 World Fair.
In Beijing, similar relocations are being implemented for new development in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games.
But some residents are putting up a fight. According to the China Economic Times, the central government received 13,513 complaints about forced relocation last year, compared with 8,516 complaints in 2001. Relocated residents recently protested in front of Shanghai's municipal building after their lawyer was jailed on charges of releasing state secrets.
In Beijing, plans for relocation of residents from their traditional homes have led to two reported self-immolations in acts of protest.