Demolition of Baishizhou: Those who "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and the voices that are muted

Zhao Jia did not expect that he would be taken away by the police because he was filming at the school gate. The police told him: We will bring you for investigation on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

Since Baishizhou's lease was cleared, residents, artists, and even people watching the old reformation of Baishizhou have been interviewed by the police station in the jurisdiction. Mr. Yang, who moved from other provinces to Shenzhen, is running around for his children to go to school. He is the one who has the longest freedom restriction among all the people who have been interviewed. He was detained for 24 hours, and the artist Nut Brothers was interviewed many times. , a teacher was verbally warned for helping hand out a questionnaire...

The exhibition board of the photo exhibition celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China in Shahe Street stands in front of the building of Baishizhou Investment and Development Co., Ltd. The survival memories of generations are condensed into groups of data. In the official narrative, the last existence of Baishizhou The significance is that it will boost the commercial explosion with the attitude of the transformation of the old city, and contribute the final strength to the development of the city. The display board reads, "Baishizhou is one of the largest urban villages in Shenzhen, with a population of 150,000 living on an area of 0.6 square kilometers. The urban villages are inherently deficient, which is extremely inconsistent with Shenzhen's image."

According to the latest official population data report, as of November 20, 2019, the total number of residents in the four villages in the North District of Baishizhou decreased by 48,594. Before that, about 83,000 people lived there.

one

On November 5, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Housing and Urban-rural Development publicly released the "Notice on Collecting Special Rectification Clues for Housing Leasing Intermediary Agencies", focusing on rectifying black intermediaries and second-hand landlords. If it weren't for the greater pressure - demolition, the grievances between Sister Zhang and the second-hand landlord for so many years might be reasonably resolved through the issuance of documents.

But right now, she was trapped in Baishizhou, and she couldn't find a shop elsewhere to start over, and no one told her how long she could stay here. The rent clearance has caused the loss of more than half of the passenger flow.

The news that Baishizhou is going to be demolished has been rumored for many years, both true and false. Until this summer, a large-scale rent clearance suddenly began. It has been six years since Sister Zhang’s Northeastern restaurant opened in Baishizhou. The rent clearance notice opened the prelude to the crowd of people moving out, and it also caused the conflict between Sister Zhang and the second-hand landlord. Contradictions began to come to the fore.

In the past six years, she has handed over the rent to the second-hand landlord on time. Even if the contract is signed once a year, the rent will rise as soon as it goes up, mixed with some unexplainable benefits and tea fees. She endures all the injustices.

When the sound of demolition became louder and louder, she ran to Baishizhou Investment Development Co., Ltd. to ask the staff there, only to find out that the second-hand landlord had not paid the rent to the company for half a year, but continued to collect her rent. The demolition information has also been kept from her.

Sister Zhang believes that this kind of behavior makes money for second-hand landlords, but the risks are borne by their tenants. "I handed over the money to your second-hand landlord, and the joint-stock company will chase me at any time. What should I do? Who will pay for my risk."

Sister Zhang endured it for many years. The electricity consumption of Shenzhen residents is calculated according to the season and gradient, and the third-grade electricity charge is only 0.98 yuan/kWh, but the electricity bill Zhang Jie handed to the second landlord is calculated at 1.5 yuan/kWh. Funds and manpower, second-hand landlords don’t invest anything, but they can earn more than the country.” For so many years, his shop has always been 500 to 1,000 more expensive next door, and other landlords sometimes can’t stand it, even He also secretly helped him, and would tell her if there was any news.

The demolition forced her, and a game began between her and the second-hand landlord. In June, three tenants from the same landlord wanted to join forces and agreed not to pay rent to the second-hand landlord, but this month, the landlord came several times and threatened to cut off water and electricity, and the two next door "surrendered" successively.

A few days before I saw Sister Zhang, the second landlord just came and made a big fuss. The two sides quarreled and broke up. Earlier, the second landlord cut off her electricity, and the trouble was brought to the police for mediation. At that time, it was approaching the National Day. No one wanted to make the matter worse, but there was no solution, and it kept dragging on.

When talking about these things, she was still smiling and greeting the business in the store, as if her mood was not affected, but after talking about it, she still said, "I don't know if it's because of the pressure, I feel like I've been forgetting things these two days. Son".

In this matter, she insisted on fighting to the end, speaking and thinking with the straightforwardness of Northeasterners, and frequently used words such as "surrender" and "fight" when describing this experience. "Since the face has been torn apart, there is no point in going back."

Sister Zhang came to Shenzhen from her hometown in the northeast because she felt that the southern environment was tolerant and could give them a place to live. In this 60-square-meter store, her husband is in charge, she greets customers in front, and works day after day for various things in the store. She doesn't like to go shopping or go to sights. The only way to relax that I can think of is to wait for one day to relax, go to the beach for a night, and be quiet.

After coming to Shenzhen for so many years, she sees human nature clearly and deals with all kinds of people, but does not establish close connections. In the early years, I partnered with my relatives to open a restaurant, but I was deceived by my relatives, so I went out on my own and found this restaurant; I don’t usually go out to play, and I don’t have any special friends. When there is no business, it will pop up.

The story of Sister Zhang has appeared in many media. Many reporters who come to Baishizhou will come to talk to Sister Zhang first, and she is also willing to help if you need someone. When a reporter came to Baishizhou, the process of finding interviewees repeatedly hit a wall. Most of the interviewees were reluctant or afraid to speak. She talked about this experience when interviewing Sister Zhang, and Sister Zhang turned her head to comfort her.

two

From Baishizhou subway station, it is difficult to connect the commercial street in front of you with the "dirty" urban village. Entering Baishizhou from Shahe Road, the shops on both sides are soliciting discounts on the grounds of "welcoming the National Day" The flow of guests, people and vehicles is high, although Wu Laobai, an artist who has been following Baishizhou for a long time, said that there are many fewer people coming here. Shijie's statement is more direct: Baishizhou used to have no distinction between day and night. Only at three or four in the morning will there be fewer people. When he said this, he pointed to the sidewalk and said to us: "I can't walk here before." verb: move.

At first sight of Baishizhou, it is easy to be confused by its seemingly prosperous appearance. But this is just the entrance to Baishizhou. Baishizhou is big, and the most common name in the media is "the old converted aircraft carrier". If you walk in a little bit, the street will become quiet. There are various decorations thrown away when people move houses in the alley. A yellow poster was posted on the downstairs of the vacated residents, "The building has been emptied, please do not enter unless you are not."

For the movers stationed in Baishizhou, the best time for business has passed. It was in August, and more and more unit buildings were posted with rent clearance notices. Master Yin was able to move five or six houses a day.

Now that the business is deserted, he is still here, picking up some chairs and cushions that no one wants on the way to move the house, folding the cushions into 30% as a sofa, and placing them at the door of a residential unit building that has already been rented. I would lie down on it to rest every now and then, and every now and then I would sit up and shout, "Move, move." The master who works with him sits on the roadside and spends time with the short video software on his mobile phone. When he is thirsty, he goes to the noodle shop next to him to drink water.

They come out at seven every morning and stay here for ten hours. More than 10 tricycles are often piled up diagonally opposite the Jiangnan Department Store, a landmark building in Baishizhou. The masters sit and chat, play cards, or sleep in their cars.

They make a living by moving, and demolition means they have a business, but urban villages are also where they live.

Eagle's tattoo shop usually only opens in the afternoon. He has been in Baishizhou for many years. When he heard that it was going to be demolished, he also found out that a foreigner had come to his shop a few years ago to get a tattoo of Baishizhou. The picture was posted in the circle of friends, half-jokingly saying that this is the real Baishizhou people.

During the height of the conflict in the summer, he was also active among the petitioners. "Some merchants have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they have nothing to lose. Now people go to empty buildings and do business with ghosts. It's dark lights." In addition to the impact of demolition on business, according to his experience, right now is the off-season for business. Eagle plans to Standing still, he decided in his heart that this was a "difficult time", and maybe it would be good to get through it.

Artists Nut Brothers implemented the "Shenzhen Doll" project on the border of Shenzhen on August 24. A 29-ton giant claw machine was used to clamp the doll to show the fate of the "doll" in Baishizhou that might be abandoned by the city. In the process, he set up a baby collection point in Eagle's store. Because of this, the police came to the door.

Eagle's store is in a small alley where only two people can walk side by side. The conflict broke out there. Six police officers came that day and stood in a row in front of his store. They wanted to take him for questioning, but he didn't want to leave. It makes no sense, "Is it necessary to find me?" Eagle recorded a live video. In the video, his voice is very clear and his emotions are a little excited, accusing the police standing at the door of "arresting people". Eagle is almost 60 years old and has a strong body. That day, he was forcibly carried away by the police and stayed in the office for an hour. When he left, he asked the police to drive him back.

Eagle's shop is full of photos, some are tattoo designs, and some are photos of his own painting when he was young. Those photos are hung at the door, marked with a good year, and he speaks very fast when introducing people, which photo is For a few years, I read it down one after another. There are some musical instruments hanging a little inside. He also likes to sing and knows that he has musical skills. In July, he also re-written the lyrics of the song "Gardenia Blossom" and changed it to "Baishizhou Demolition".

three

When we met Duan Peng in Xintang Park, he paid attention to Baishizhou all the year round and mocked himself as a "grass-roots architect".

Xintang Park is not in line with our perception of traditional parks. It is small in size. There is a pavilion for people to enjoy the shade, a few stone tables and stone benches and some old amusement facilities. The other three sides are residential buildings. We were sitting in the pavilion chatting, and Shihan was playing on the stone bench in the pavilion. The little girl didn't recognize her birth and took the initiative to talk to us. When she opened her mouth, she showed her missing front teeth.

Duan Peng recalled that he seemed to have seen her when he visited a residential building last time. When he asked her about the situation in her home, the little girl would answer any questions she had, and if she didn’t know, she would go to a farther place to ask her father, and then ran back to tell Duan Peng.

"How many times have you moved?"

Lying on the stone bench, she broke her fingers, and when she spoke, she kept the words that belonged to a child and said, "I have moved four times, and once I have moved it five times."

But we later learned that she was less than seven years old this year, which meant that her childhood had been spent moving house after house for as long as she could remember. This kind of story is by no means an exception. Sohu's "Ji Sun Studio" reported a memory of an urban village that has been drifting for 20 years . The 39-year-old hair salon owner Lin Liqing's life trajectory in Shenzhen for 20 years has been due to demolition and removal again and again. Encountered new demolition. "His moving trajectory is also another development memory of the city of Shenzhen."

Just one stop away from Baishizhou, it is the Vientiane World born after the demolition of Dachong Village. There are now a 300-meter-high office building and three star hotels, a 180,000-square-meter super-large shoppingmall and a 2.28 million-square-meter shopping mall. m of business apartments and residences.

Duan Peng's impression of the place is "too clean" - the kind of cleanliness that low-income groups cannot survive. He even used the analogy of "the water is so clear that there will be no fish".

On the streets of Baishizhou, there are old people with grandchildren, porters waiting for business, tailors, cleaners, shirtless people and people wearing slippers... These people are the most down-to-earth groups in China. cannot be erased. For the new immigrant city of Shenzhen, they are also city builders.

Shenzhen has no shortage of shopping centers. According to the "Global Shopping Center Development Report" released by CB Richard Ellis in 2017, Shenzhen's shopping centers under construction ranked first in the world with an area of 4.58 million square meters. In the take-off stage of the city, the transformation of the old city boosted the commercial explosion. However, when the reform and opening up has passed 40 years, Shenzhen has no shortage of such bright and beautiful commercial complexes. Duan Peng feels that retaining the villages in the city will actually "allow more people". “Urbanization”, the urban villages are actually taking care of Shenzhen.

"Do we want to make the city look more beautiful, or do we want to make life in this city more convenient, do we need social resources to be tilted toward low-income people, and more consideration for the bottom line of society, or do we still only pay attention to individuals as we did in the first 30 years struggle".

Four

These questions may not be answered, and more often, we have no room for discussion, nor are we allowed to think and witness.

Since July 2019, residents, artists, and even people watching the old reformation of Baishizhou have been interviewed by the local police station. Mr. Yang, who moved from other provinces to Shenzhen, is running around for his children to go to school. He is the one who has the longest freedom restriction among all the people who have been interviewed. He has been detained for 24 hours, and the Nut Brothers have been interviewed many times. A teacher was verbally warned for helping hand out a questionnaire...

Perhaps this is how the panic started, and people started to keep silent about some things. Almost everyone is reminding people who come here to be careful, and the default is that this matter is sensitive. But everyone involved felt "a clear conscience".

Zhao Jia did not expect that he would be taken away by the police because he was filming at the school gate. The police told him: We will bring you for investigation on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

Before he went to Shenzhen, he had concerns. He usually heard a lot of rights activists talk about his experiences, and he also saw a lot of ways to avoid network surveillance.

He came to Shenzhen on the 26th. Earlier, he saw the news on Douban that the White Goose News Agency was recruiting citizen recorders. The artists initiated this project, hoping to recruit citizens who have the conditions to go to the scene and continue to record them. seen stories.

At the police station, the police repeatedly asked Zhao Jia if the White Goose News Agency was an illegal association.

On the first day he entered the White Goose News Agency, he advised everyone not to go in the group, "I personally don't recommend going to the National Day, or to go in an organized manner", but what he said did not attract too many people's attention, curator Hong Bin In the group, he reminded him not to be too politically fearful. A person who claimed to have “worked hard in Shenzhen for many years and lived in Gangxia and Baishizhou” spoke more directly: “(The police) can ask me what, my former home I can’t miss it yet.”

In that group, no one was more careful than him, and he also reminded everyone to "disguise the image that tourists want to disguise, and bring all the equipment to avoid being questioned." But in the end, these seemingly comprehensive plans were all used on myself. That afternoon, he and a group friend, also a local guide he hired, took a video at the entrance of the Nanshan No. 2 Experimental School. The police surrounded him and asked him what he was doing. He said that he was visiting Shenzhen and heard that Baishizhou is going to be demolished, so I came here to see it.

He and the girls accompanying him were taken away from the side of the road to the community service point and then to the police station. They also took a nine-seater police car with a cell in the middle. They stayed at the Shahe police station for nearly four hours. He reminded himself to calm down and took the initiative to talk to the police.

When questioning, he could hear the crying of the girls in the room. It was nine o'clock in the evening when he came out of the police station. The girl asked him if he was a repeat offender. He didn't seem afraid at all.

Brother Nut was interviewed three times. This matter was time-consuming and experience-consuming in his perception. At the beginning, it was a matter of course that he didn’t want to go. Fortunately, he didn’t need to go to work, and he didn’t have a fixed residence. He went to Guangzhou for a period of time. , the police looked for him for a long time.

When he returned to Shenzhen again, he still could not avoid the interview. The police stayed outside his residence for one night, and he only realized the next day that the knocking on the door continued from morning to afternoon, and he was almost forcibly unlocked. In the end, he took the initiative to call the police, thinking that if something happened, he could keep a police record anyway.

According to a report by China News Weekly, Brother Nut was interviewed at the police station because his project and the topic of "4,000 children are about to go out of school" were "misleading the public". On the public poster of the previous Moments exhibition, it was written that "The problem of 4,000 Baishizhou school children's reading remains unresolved."

The Nut Brothers also met representatives from Lujing and the Nanshan District Education Bureau at the police station. They collectively expressed their dissatisfaction and accused the Nut Brothers of damaging their reputation.

Zhao Jia recalled that during his communication with the police at the police station, he also mentioned the issue of the data on the affected children. The police explained to Zhao Jia that the government has taken a series of measures on this issue, and the problem has been properly handled. . They hope that Zhao Jia will also persuade Brother Nut to stop being stubborn if he has the opportunity, and they also suspect that Brother Nut is instructed to collect money to do things.

The data that the Nut Brothers used on the exhibition poster came from a recording of a negotiation between the tenant's family representative and the developer. In the recording, the staff of the Sub-district Office verbally admitted that more than 4,000 children were affected by school.

Another version of this story circulating is that because of this data, the Education Bureau later gave a set of more accurate data (3541) to "refute the rumor".

Officials strenuously deny that any children in public schools have been left out of school because of the demolition. On the second day of the private school Xinghe Elementary School, some parents told Wu Laobai that 400 students in Xinghe Elementary School dropped out, and two-thirds of them returned to their hometowns, but no one has yet verified the data.

In May of this year, Brother Nut was targeted by the local police station because of another project. The police wanted to check the contents of his mobile phone. His lawyer told him that he needed to see a letter to give the mobile phone to the police, but then the mobile phone was directly robbed. . At the Shahe police station, Zhao Jiayin's mobile phone was also handed over to the police for inspection.

Before Brother Nut left, the police asked him to sign a letter of guarantee that he would not violate the law.

Lu Xing originally accompanied Brother Nut to the police station, but when he arrived at the police station, he was also formally summoned. The police said that he made inflammatory remarks in the group chat related to Baishizhou. After the interview, he refused to sign the guarantee, believing that this behavior " There is no provision at the legal level."

It's not that they don't know the unreasonableness of these procedures. Except for being in such an environment, everyone has their own considerations, "What can you do? We don't care what we can do in this system, our goal is not here. , we have to focus on the problem of children going to school.” What Zhao Jia thought was to cooperate early and leave early.

There are also some absurd details that we cannot verify and may only be remembered by the parties concerned:

When Zhao Jia was asked by the police why he took pictures at the school gate, he responded casually, I heard that this is an aristocratic school. The police told him: We are a socialist country, there are no elites, all are civilians, you have a problem with your thinking.

Before Brother Nut walked out of the police station, the police said: Artists are garbage. The phrase was later used privately by a group of artists to ridicule themselves. The Nut Brothers prepared to hold an exhibition, found two parrots, and trained them to speak. One of them expressed the children's appeal: go to school nearby and stay in Shenzhen. Another parrot repeats: artist, trash! Artist, trash!

five

The special plan for the reconstruction of Baishizhou was officially approved by the Shenzhen Municipal Commission of Land Planning on December 28, 2018. According to the process, the developer will complete the contract with all owners before the end of next year, otherwise the development authority will be withdrawn.

When Wu Laobai was asked whether Baishizhou might be preserved, he did not answer directly. He said, we don't care about the result. Even if LVGEM (the developer) quits, other developers will enter the market. We do care. In this process, the interests of all parties can be guaranteed.

Shijie thought about the difficulty of speaking out for the Baishizhou old renovation project, "There were a large number of architects and planners behind the demolition of Hubei, and the public opinion war was very good. It's enough to show the feelings for the building. But Baishizhou can't do it, Baishizhou needs to be concerned about it. It's people." The game does exist in the process of demolition, but to a certain extent, this is not a game of demolition and non-demolition. Artist Liu Weiwei's group set up a temporary advertising group in Baishizhou, and shot ten advertisements related to Baishizhou to discuss the general rights and costs faced by residents in the renovation and reconstruction of urban villages.

Before the Nut Brothers decided to invite people to participate in the Moments exhibition, they once thought of doing an offline exhibition, but no one has ever undertaken this project. After the Moments exhibition started, in less than a day, 4 of the 8 articles that were waiting to be exhibited as originally planned disappeared, and only a cold "This content cannot be viewed due to violation of regulations" remained from the link.

However, the people participating in the exhibition kept discussing in the group, experimenting with various possible ways to make the exhibition posters spread smoothly without being blocked.

In the following time, the censorship system never stopped its operation, and the people who gathered because of Baishizhou never stopped arguing and discussing.

These stories are by no means new, but more stories disappeared in the deep and winding alleys of Baishizhou before they had time to tell, and there was no echo. When the artists launched the White Goose News Agency, the recruitment poster said, "Only by recording can we fight against forgetting, and only by being present can we get close to the answer."

If this article disappears inside the high wall, it will also be part of the story.

(Zhao Jia and Lu Xing are pseudonyms in the text)