Holdouts lose battle, win war in China

BEIJING -- For weeks, the little house sitting stubbornly atop an earthen pillar and surrounded by a busy construction site was a symbol of individual rights in the face of China's breakneck and often heedless development.

Reporters from across China and beyond traveled to Chongqing, a sprawling Sichuan city 850 miles southwest of Beijing, to document the campaign by Wu Ping and her husband, Yang Wu, to get more compensation for the small building where they had lived and run a restaurant for years. As they repeated tirelessly into the microphones, they were the lone holdouts among 280 houses bulldozed since 2004 to make way for a shopping center -- and they vowed not to move out of the way until they got what they wanted.

Yesterday, news spread that the long struggle was finally over. Wu Ping and Yang Wu quietly reached an agreement with the development company on Monday, local authorities reported. Bulldozers moved in during the night to raze the house, flatten the little pillar it stood on, and pursue construction of yet another shopping center.

Wu Ping and Yang Wu dropped out of sight after signing the deal. But despite their silence -- or perhaps because of it -- they and their house remained symbols for many Chinese.

In comments by thousands of Internet users, they were cited as examples of how government and big business often crush individual Chinese or, on the other hand, of what people can achieve.

The nationwide attention given to the Chongqing drama over the last few weeks, and to its outcome, hinted at the frustration felt by many Chinese at the lack of legal protection for individuals in a country where business and government are marching hand in hand toward economic growth. The house was labeled a "nail house," borrowing from a popular Chinese expression in which a "nail" is a person who sticks out by refusing to submit to authority.

In the broad coverage, Chinese seemed to cheer on the couple precisely for this reason, urging them to hold firm against the combined weight of local authorities and big business. The solution was also generally hailed as a wise compromise and a victory for the couple.

"It's a multiple-win outcome," concluded Beijing's Xin Jing Bao newspaper. The couple came out ahead, the newspaper said, because they got a ground-floor apartment with space to open a new restaurant.