Dongdongqiang is an ex-cross talk practitioner and now runs a popular blog. A recent post about a forced eviction in Beijing Drum and Bell area has attracted some attention. Translation below:
Earnestly request your attention on forced eviction of fruit stall on Jiu Gulou road
by Dongdongqiang
I know that media people like to view my blog.
If there are related personnel (of course not only the media) who has seen this I ask for your attention, to investigate and report.
I don’t know any more than the words and pictures below. I don’t even know if this is the whole truth. That’s why I ask for people to investigate and help.
I don’t want to talk big. I don’t really understand the law of democracy. I also can’t talk about corruption between officials and violent law-enforcing.
Just look at these photos. From my instincts I say: these fucking sons-of-bitches, aren’t they going too far with their bullying of honest people?
I live in Beijing, and I want to keep living here. All my life. I know there are tens of millions of people like me.
Many of my relatives, friends, are all honest “little people.”
When I see the owner in those photos, I think of them.
The pictures and text below comes from the Douban group. There has been a little editing.
Going to the scene at Jiu Gulou road, where fruit stall is being evicted forcefully
2009-06-15 21:56:57 From: Quasimodo’s girlfriend
This is a fruit stall I used to go to on Jiu Gulou road. The owners, from Anhui, have been selling fruit in Beijing for over ten years. The female owner we call “Big teeth auntie” due to the way she looks, and the couple are kind and forever smiling when greeting their customers. The prices are fair, the fruit fresh, and they don’t deceive anyone.
Yesterday I suddenly wanted some durian fruit, so I called them, and asked them to get one when they were replenishing stock. Today in the evening I called them, and as usual jokingly talked on the phone:
Me: Uncle, do you have the durian today?
Owner: I have, I have.
Me: Is it good? If it’s not good then I won’t take it.
Owner: Of course it’s good. I picked it out especially for you.
On the phone I didn’t hear anything unusual.
I cycled there, and got there after five minutes. This is what I saw:
More photos at Douban.
The owner sat on top of some rubble with a dazed look, when he saw us in the crowd, he stood up and took from the fridge the durian fruit he had “saved for us”.
The reason for this: planned evictions to make room for the number 8 subway line. He received the notice a long time ago and has been looking for a place. But the landlord has also signed with the Eviction Office, and didn’t bother with what the original tenancy contract stated. On Saturday they called on the phone and by Monday somebody came to evict the fruit sellers. Today is Monday, everything here: people and things, have all been thrown out into the street. The roof has been punched through: looking up, you can see the stars.
“Big teeth auntie” is now lying in the hospital at Jishuitan, reason unclear. The owner didn’t seem to know which room number his wife was in. Their kid, who is studying university on their small income, in far away in their home town. They must be very worried.
I don’t know when the thunderstorm will come tonight.
The notice that the owner holds says, “Violent eviction. Is this right? There is no way to live for the ordinary folk.” One of the characters for ordinary folk “姓” is written wrong, as “性”, and this has been picked up by commenters.