Lone Chinese home destroyed; farmer accepts deal

Authorities have demolished a five-story home that stood incongruously in the middle of a new main road and had become the latest symbol of resistance by Chinese homeowners against officials accused of offering unfair compensation.

Xiayangzhang village chief Chen Xuecai told reporters the house was bulldozed on Saturday after its owners, duck farmer Luo Baogen and his wife, agreed to accept compensation of 260,000 yuan (US$41,000).

There was no immediate confirmation from Luo, whose cellphone was turned off on Saturday.

The couple had been the lone holdouts from a neighbourhood that was demolished to make way for the main thoroughfare heading to a newly built railway station on the outskirts of the city of Wenling in Zhejiang province.

The razing comes a week after images of the house circulated widely online in China, triggering a flurry of domestic and foreign media reports about the latest “nail house”, as buildings that remain standing as their owners resist development are called.

Luo, 67, had just completed his house at a cost of about 600,000 yuan (US$95,000) when the government approached him with their standard offer of 220,000 (US$35,000) to move out – which he refused, Chen has previously said. The offer then went up to 260,000 yuan (US$41,000) last week.