Xinjian Cun, Daxing District, Beijing, China: Fire, then Expulsion of Migrant Workers

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, where the government has destroyed the neighbourhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. South Gate

A large fire in a Beijing 北京市 suburb Xinjian Cun 新建村, in the Daxing District 大兴区 that killed 17 people, has prompted Beijing authorities to urgently begin investigations into illegal buildings, resulting in the destruction of a Beijing suburb called Xinjian Cun. Most of the residents there are migrant workers, have had a difficult time finding new accommodations. Their businesses and buildings have been bulldozed. The migrant workers have been told to go back to their villages. This, a forced mass expulsion of Chinese people, from a Chinese city, and in the middle of winter.

The Beijing Fire Marshall said cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit in the basement, which was used as a commercial cold storage unit. Due to numerous related reasons the 19 people died of carbon monoxide poisoning. More coverage on the JufuYuan Hotel fire.

I wondered how large of an area is Xinjian Cun. It turns out that the main street is around 700m long, chock full of flourishing businesses and people.

Xinjian Cun, Daxing District, Beijing, China, is due south of Tiananmen. Fire breaks out, Government expels migrant workers from homes and businesses, destroys buildings. Baidu Maps

Xinjian Cun, Daxing District, Beijing, China: Fire breaks out, Government expels migrant workers from homes and businesses, destroys buildings. The main street in Xinjian Cun is 700m long, bustling with businesses of all sorts. Xinjian Cun starts at the red dot and goes south. There are 2 large Chinese gates at each end. Baidu Maps.

Xinjian Cun, Daxing District, Beijing, China: Fire breaks out, Government expels migrant workers from homes and businesses, destroys buildings. The main street in Xinjian Cun is 700m long, bustling with businesses of all sorts. There are 2 large Chinese gates at each end. Baidu Maps.

You can easily see that Xinjian Cun is a very populous and dense area of Beijing. To condemn and bulldoze all these building would displace a lot of people, and destroy a lot of businesses.

A zoomed in set of sat maps, merged together, of the main road in Xinjian Cun shows how densely packed these buildings reside in this area of Beijing.

I will start with some photos from the South China Morning Post, from Reuters, that shows the total destruction at the Xinjian Cun south gate. This is followed by earlier images of the same Xinjian Cun south gate. The devastation is total.

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, where the government has destroyed the neighbourhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Reuters

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, where the government has destroyed the neighbourhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. South Gate

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China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, where the government has destroyed the neighbourhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Image of what used to be Xinjian Cun, south gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Outside the south gate there are lots of vendors. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, where the government has destroyed the neighbourhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Image of what used to be Xinjian Cun, south gate. RFA

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China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, where the government has destroyed the neighbourhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Image of what used to be Xinjian Cun, south gate. China Daily

China Daily

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. I feel really sorry for this guy, who is obviously upset. Note the building in the background. Reuters

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Note the building in the background right matches the photo from SCMP

Concerning is that migrant workers have been in Beijing for a long time. What has changed since the fire?

The city government says they are being pushed out for their own safety, after a recent deadly fire in a migrant settlement. But many migrants say the government is using the fire as an excuse to ramp up efforts to drive them out and ease pressures in a city whose population has already soared beyond 20 million people….

The migrants tend to live on the edge of Beijing in stretches of three, four and five-story apartment buildings that are often cramped, but not dilapidated. The streets hum with activity from supermarkets, cheap diners, hairdressers and cellphone stores.

Local officials have tolerated, inspected and taxed these buildings for years until the current crackdown, when they suddenly declared them illegal for being fire hazards, or for lacking permits…

But the city government has also spent years trying to reduce Beijing’s population of low-income migrants, using demolitions and sweeping inspections of residency documents to force them out. They have warned that Beijing was overstrained by a population explosion that has sent its population soaring from 10.9 million in 1990 to almost 22 million in 2016…

Beijing has set a goal of limiting its population to 23 million residents by 2020, while also making room to attract more higher-paid, university-educated professionals.

Despite such efforts, officials have so far failed to deter migrants from settling in the city, largely because Beijing still relies on them to be its cooks, couriers and cleaners. source

…municipal officials lack awareness of basic human rights. Even though people’s freedom of mobility is not stated in the constitution, after decades of economic reforms and opening up, this right is taken for granted. The problem is, it is not recognised by the municipal authorities, nor included in the law and city policies. source

The execution has been rapid and clinically efficient, wiping out whole neighbourhoods. Xinjiancun has been razed…
According to Jiang, what’s coming is a new wave of real estate speculation. In 2005, a resolution by the National People’s Congress identified 33 pilot counties, cities and districts that would have to “temporarily adjust and implement the Land Administration Law” while the authorities go about “getting the city into the countryside”, or turning rural land into attractive residential area. Daxing is one of those 33 pilot zones.
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Let us Take a Walk Through Xinjian Cun

I thought it would be an interesting idea to take a virtual stroll through Xinjian Cun, to see how these residents used to live. Today these buildings are probably all bulldozed, so this is the only way to see these buildings now.

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. North Gate, facing south

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. South facing. The stores to the right, behind the large gate are the ones destroyed in more recent photos. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. South facing. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. South facing. BaiduChina, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. South facing. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. South facing. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. South gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, where the government has destroyed the neighbourhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Image of what used to be Xinjian Cun, south gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before the demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. South gate. Baidu

Jufuyuan Gongyu hotel, Xinjian Cun, Daxing Qu, Beijing, China fire, killed 17 people. 2017 Nov 19. Prompted Beijing to expel migrant workers. The hotel is very long at ~90 m. Baidu

Jufuyuan Gongyu hotel, Xinjian Cun, Daxing Qu, Beijing, China fire, killed 17 people. 2017 Nov 19. Prompted Beijing to expel migrant workers. Hotel front door. New Image taken between Nov 19 and Dec 04. Image updated 2017 Dec 03. Pretty impressive, Baidu

I hope that these images will remind everyone of the recent past in Xinjian Cun. Xinjian Cun was a thriving village within Beijing, replete with food, bras, fruit, shops for smartphones, gocery stores, places to eat, pretty much everything and anything you need to live. Xinjian Cun was your typical Beijing neighbourhood. But no more, all gone with a wave of a magestrate’s hand.

Note: It looks like the campaign by Beijing authorities has spread to other areas of Beijing, like PiCun 皮村, in Chaoyang District 朝阳区 who are being forced out without notice. They cannot rent a place to stay and thus are forced to return home. Th is very sad.

Addendum 2017 Dec 11 Campaign to Drive Out Migrants Slams Beijing’s Best and Brightest: Push to remove migrant workers also removes tech sector workers as well.

In an attempt to slow the influx of job seekers, Beijing has cut the numbers of university graduates from other parts of China receiving the hukou permits that confer privileged status and benefits. But they have kept coming.

Without permanent residency, they are forced to live precariously. Trying to save money, many find cheap apartments in the same run-down neighborhoods as migrants working menial jobs.

Addendum 2017 Dec 13 A Beijing-based painter artist Hua Yong 华涌 started filming the devastation of Xinjian Cun and other areas of Beijing, as well as documenting their plight and troubles. He has done many interviews with regular people. Due to his videos 2 search channel he is now wanted by police and is on the run. I feel sorry for him. I have watched some of his videos where he has filmed driving a car down some of the roads of Xinjian Cun, and therefore have before and after images.

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. SEESN of the North Gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. SEESN of the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. SEESN of the North Gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. SEESN of the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

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China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. SE of the North Gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. SE of the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. SE of the North Gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. SE of the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. S of the North Gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. S of the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Heavy police presence. S of the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Near the North Gate. Note the large building background in the middle with the glass windows. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Near the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Note the two large concrete buildings in the background. Just before the North Gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Just before the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Just West of the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Just outside the North Gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Just before the North Gate. Youtube, Hua Yong

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, before demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Note the building in the middle background, obscured by sunlight glare. Just West of the North Gate. Baidu

China, Beijing, Daxing, Xinjian Cun, after demolition, where the government has destroyed the neighborhood of migrant workers and evicted everyone. Same building in the middle background, obscured by sunlight glare. Just West of the North Gate. Youtube Hua Yong

Hua Yong is arrested. He posts a last video to his daughter explaining why he cannot attend her upcoming birthday. It is very sad that such a dedicated dad must tell his daughter this.

Hua Yong is released on bail and was allowed to travel to Chengdu, where his daughter lives.

…Mr. Hua had been held on suspicion of “gathering the masses to disturb traffic order.” He was released on a form of bail known as “qubao houshen,” which allows the police to continue investigating for up to a year. Often the suspect won’t face charges, but can be monitored and face restrictions on his ability to travel and speak publicly…
In the videos recorded Friday, Mr. Hua repeated his desire to remain in China rather than leave for someplace where he would be able to speak more freely about political issues.

“The People’s Republic of China constitution provides for freedom of speech, freedom of the press,” he said. “All I did was take and post a few videos online. There’s nothing wrong with this. So I will stay in China. Even if I die, I die in my country.”

“Everything I did was for you,” he tells his daughter in the video, “so you wouldn’t have to suffer like your father and grandfather’s generations. I am willing to use my life to defend the rights of citizens to speak freely, for the rights of citizens to be people.”

Addendum 2017 Dec 14 Here is an interesting article discussing who is a “low end person” diduan renkou 低端人口 and why they are expelled from Beijing. His argument is that Beijing is the government capital of China. All those that do not directly serve in the CCP or the privileged class, “high end persons”, can be considered “low end persons” and therefore removed. All those who serve those in the CCP or privileged class are not “low end persons” either. Low or high end does not denote income, where you are born, hukou, but whom you serve. Beijing is crowded with cars, so its population must be culled.

Beijing areas where migrant workers have been expelled fro mthe city. BBC

Addendum 2017 Dec 25 One Target in Beijing’s Migrant Crackdown: Schoolchildren: it is heart breaking that these innocent kids are inadvertently targeted and must leave Beijing. China need not be so cruel.

Addendum 2017 Dec 11 Beijing Like a War Zone After Forced Evictions | China Uncensored: Interesting commentary on Xinjian Cun, but also some interesting video images.

Addendum 2018 Jan 21

Beijing’s population has dropped for the first time since 2000 as migrant workers are driven out amid a campaign to ease the strain on the sprawling, overcrowded capital city.

Its population fell by 22,000 people to 21.707 million last year, the first decline recorded in 17 years, the municipal statistics bureau said. Figures on the number of migrants living in the capital were not released, but the statistics bureau said megacities such as Beijing had become “less attractive” for them. source

Addendum 2018 Mar 08 Turning the Rubble of China’s Mass Evictions into Protest Art

A poem by Yu Xiuhua 我們不是低端

Leave the sunshine to the high-end population,
Let’s go my child, go with the Beijing wind,
Leave the sunshine to the future. Leave it with the high-end to praise,
Leave the happiness to the future. Leave it with the high-end to enjoy.

Drawing of Xin Jian Cun, Beijing, by artist Yu Han

2018 Nov 18 A year after deadly Daxing fire, no let-up in campaign to marginalise migrant workers

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