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SCMP Reporter

A Beijing family yesterday witnessed the destruction of most of a courtyard house that had been home to their relatives for generations, despite a 2003 court ruling against a government demolition order.

Chongwen district resident Li Xiuyun , 52, said a group of young men in military uniforms suddenly broke into the house about 2pm and began to knock down the property without stating their identities or showing a demolition approval.

'They didn't say anything, but pressed me to the ground and punched me. I called 110, but the police said it was none of their business,' Ms Li said, weeping.

Ms Li fled, but her ailing husband Liu Fengchi , an 80-year-old retired soldier injured in the Korean war, remained in the house with their mentally retarded son. By late yesterday, the family was continuing to occupy the house's five remaining rooms without power, water or phone connections.

Residents said the men were from New World Development because they returned to the company's nearby sales office.

The family was the only one left in Dongyi Alley after an eviction order in 2002 by the  Chongwen  land control office resulted in neighbours gradually moving out.

The area is slated to be turned into a high-end residential block by a Beijing unit of Hong Kong-based New World Development.

But neither the Beijing office nor the Hong Kong headquarters of New World Development would comment on the incident.

Ms Li said the family refused to move because they could not reach a compensation agreement with the  developer.  The family claimed that Republican-era title deeds proved they owned the 138 rooms of the courtyard complex.

But the house was taken over by the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution and the family regained possession of just a small portion of the building in the early 1980s. On October 7, 2002, the land control office ruled that the family  owned 10.5 rooms or 163.3 square metres, and would be entitled either to  1.06 million yuan in cash compensation or the rights to buy four three-bedroom apartments built by the land developer for a price yet to be set.

Not satisfied, Mr Liu filed a lawsuit in the local court, demanding clarification of ownership of the entire 138 rooms. On July 31, 2003, the court judged the land control office's ruling illegal. The court said  the office should clarify ownership before making any demolition decisions.



Developer's 'soldiers' demolish Beijing family's longtime home