Regulating demolition is urgent concern

Dongqian (displacement) is a fiction about demolition. Its writer Li Xiaoqian is a government official. But this first fiction of its kind by a government official, who has personally experienced the disputes, and even unrest, caused by demolitions, does provide some insight into the many contradictions involved.

What makes the issue of demolition an even greater concern are the remarks by the senior official, who is also an economist, that 50 percent of urban houses will have to be demolished nationwide in 20 years. His argument that houses built before 1949 should all be demolished - except those of historical interest - along with those constructed between 1949 and the late 1970s, and those erected after the 1970s and before 1990, does not sound unreasonable.

He argues that these houses are poor in quality and cannot meet the needs of urban residents. Only those buildings developed by real estate developers after 1990 are sound in quality and will be able to stand for hundreds of years.