No Place Like Home

By+Yuan+Yuan

Cao Guobin， an official working on the shantytown renovation in Beiliang Community in Baotou， north Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， has recorded the whole renovation process in the piles of pictures he took over the past two years as an amateur photographer.

Beiliang Community in Baotou is home to about 120，000 people and was the largest shantytown area in China. Many residents have been living there for decades， and in some domiciles， several generations were forced to share just one room.

In early 2013， Premier Li Keqiang visited the area and promised to “work hard to promote slum renovation.”

Since then， more than 2，000 local civil servants have been assigned to work together on this project and by January 2015， all residents of Beiliang had been moved to new houses， 18 months earlier than originally scheduled.

New homes

Shantytown renovation in urban areas is a major component of Premier Lis new urbanization plan. Li once commented on the phenomenon in cities where shiny， modern skyscrapers dominate one side of the city while sprawling and dilapidated shanties rule the other. “This sharp contrast is indicative of unhealthy urbanization，” said Li， who pledged that his administration would lift more than 10 million families out of urban shantytowns as a way of solving the problem and lowering the threshold for urbanization.

The plan is a central part of the countrys efforts to provide low-income urban residents with affordable housing.

“But it is a hard nut to crack，” said Cao， who said he met with hostility at many households at the very beginning. “There were many misunderstandings between the government working staff and residents in shantytown areas.”

According to Cao， some shantytown residents thought the government workers in charge of the renovation project would receive money by persuading them to move out and the real estate company involved in this project would be able to make a fortune by rebuilding modern apartments after moving them away. However， this was a false assumption. The land on which Beiliang is located is not suitable for high-rise buildings.

Many residents in shantytown areas took the opportunity to make exorbitant requests to the government. “A three-member family would ask for two apartments， this is not realistic，” said Cao.

After months of negotiations， the situation began to thaw out. “Everybody that had been living in these conditions was very eager to move and we were just there to help them，” said Cao.

Hou Shulin was among the first group to move out of the slum. On June 15， 2013， Hou got the keys to her low-rent house， which covers an area of 50 square meters. Before that， She had been living in a 21-square-meter flat house for decades with her family.

In Beiliang， 90 percent of the flat houses were over 50 years old and dilapidated. Hao Erjun had lived in a 36-square-meter house with her husband， child and mother-in-law before the renovation. The small house was divided into two rooms.

The couple have no stable income and their first child died from liver disease at the age of 15. Their second child is only 4 years old now. The huge medical expenses have made their financial situation even worse.

Haos situation is typical in Beiliang. In Donghe District， where Beiliang is located， there are 11，800 registered unemployed people， 70 percent of whom live in Beiliang. “Without the help of the government， there is no way for us to move to a new house，” said Hao.

Investment into the renovation project was about 20 billion yuan （$3.23 billion）， but the fiscal revenue of Donghe District as a whole is only 1 billion yuan （$161 million） each year.

The money was collected from various resources， including fiscal revenue， bank loans and social donations. After 26 sessions of collective discussion， the city made an operable plan for the whole project.

Yin Zhiqin received about 60，000-yuan（$9，677） compensation from her precious flat house which was less than 20 square meters and subsequently moved into a 50-square-meter low-rent house. “Now we even have some savings，” said Yin. “Before this， we couldnt even make ends meet.”

The renovated community for Beiliang residents has brand-new houses with a gym and a clinic. “I can play ping-pong in the gym and my wife exercises，” said Xie Shiping， a Beiliang resident. “I still cant believe it now. It is like a dream come true.”

“Central heating makes winters time cozy，”said Wang Xiuquan， over 80. “We used to burn coal in winter， but it was still cold and we had to wear coats and cover ourselves in layers of blankets，” said Wang. “Now we can wear T-shirts inside our home.”

The nationwide project

Chinas northeastern provinces， including Liaoning， Jilin and Heilongjiang， started the shantytown renovation project in 2005. More than 2 million residents have since moved into new houses thanks to this project， the largest of its kind since 1949. Other provinces have followed suit.

The Chinese Government has relied heavily on the rebuilding of urban shantytowns to drive domestic demand and improve peoples living conditions.

As of 2013， China had provided replacement housing for 2.18 million households from shantytown areas and began projects to address another 3.23 million households—6 percent more than originally planned.

By the end of 2014， China had renovated a total of 20.8 million housing units in the countrys urban shantytown areas. In 2014 alone， the target of rebuilding 4.7 million shantytown units has been completed. The government has boosted financial support for renovation work and stepped up construction of supporting facilities.

In 2015， the country plans to start renovating more than 5 million shantytown units， according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development （MOHURD）. Chen Zhenggao， former Governor of Liaoning， known for the rebuilding of shantytowns during his term in the northeastern province， was appointed minister of housing and urban-rural development in June 2014.

Chen said China will also continue to push forward with the shantytown renovation program extensively as “it can not only improve peoples livelihood but also spur economic growth.”

Xiao Wenmei， a 32-year-old resident in Guiyang， capital city of southwest Chinas Guizhou Province， was still excited as she recalled the moment she received the keys to her new apartment from Premier Li.

Xiao lived with her husband and children in a nearby village， where the roofs of houses leaked and roads became muddy during rainstorms. The local government invested 3 billion yuan （$481 million） in 2009 to build 8，500 apartments for 5，000 households in Xiaos community.

Xiaos family was allotted two apartments， about 300 square meters altogether， as were some other families.

“Well move into one apartment and rent the other out，” she said. “This new home is like a dream for my family.”

For Zou Antong， a resident in Tongling， east Chinas Anhui Province， this Spring Festival is the happiest one he has experienced since he moved out of the shantytown that he had lived for more than 20 years.

Zou， over 60， said he only paid 30，000 yuan （$4，700） for the new apartment in a tall modern building with an elevator. “The place we lived before was humid with almost no sunshine，” said Zou. “We didnt have separate kitchen and bathroom before， its like having a brand-new life.”