Standing Up For Private Property Rights In China

This bizarre picture is from China, where as you can see there seems to be a disagreement on zoning. The owners of this home refused to allow it to be demolished since the price they are being offered by the government is not sufficient considering the cost of they had invested (not even close).  Sometimes the Chinese government finds ways to take the home anyway.  For instance, they may turn off all electricity (which amazingly is still running at this point).  Sometimes the government will order the house demolished when the owners are away, but in this case the owners are staying there 24/7 and are actually sleeping in different sides of the house at night in order appeal to the humanistic side of the demolition crews.  So far it has worked.

This is the story of modern China though, where the strong regional governments have absolute control over zoning.   Private property interests and the will of citizens are not as important.  It is good to see people pushing back, though I think we can all see how this will end up.