Decades ago the Chinese communist regime took privately owned homes away from urban residents. Now they want their property back.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese Communist regime used the slogan of “socialism reform” to force private property owners to let the government borrow their properties. Such properties are called “rented properties” and have not been returned to the owners since. After the Great Cultural Revolution, the rents were no longer paid to the owners.
In Hangzhou City, the capital of Zhejiang Province in eastern China, a group of property owners gather outside the Housing Administration Bureau every Monday morning to ask that their privately-owned properties maintained by the State be returned.
On Monday May 18, one petitioner said, “The government forced the property out of our grandparents’ hands. Now it’s time to return it back to us.”
Property owner Mr. Feng is an elderly man. He told The Epoch Times: “We have been gathering here every Monday since 2008. It’s been almost 3 years.”
Ms. Gao said, “My grandmother’s house was 47 square meters (506 square feet). The authorities forced her to bring the house under government maintenance. My grandmother had no choice but comply and her house has been taken away.
“We have asked the Housing Administration Bureau many times to return our property. In 1989 they offered to pay us 35 yuan (US$5.39) per square meter (per 10.76 square feet), which amounted to 1,600 yuan (US$246) for the house. That was way too little considering property prices. My grandmother did not accept the offer.”
Ms. Xu said, “Constitution Article 13 says that a ‘citizens’ lawful private property is inviolable. Is the Chinese Constitution merely a piece of paper?”
In recent years, many house owners across China have started to reclaim their private properties from government maintenance.
On Dec. 10, 2010, World Human Rights day, several dozen petitioners from Beijing, Yunnan Province, Henan Province, Zhejiang Province, and overseas, gathered in Shanghai to announce the establishment of the “Association of State-Maintained, Privately-Owned Rental Property Owners.”
In Shanghai, a group of house owners demanding the return of their properties posted an article and photos on aboluowang.com saying, “In 1958, many private properties were taken away. We’ve been waiting for a few decades now to have our properties returned.”
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese Communist regime used the slogan of “socialism reform” to force private property owners to let the government borrow their properties. Such properties are called “rented properties” and have not been returned to the owners since. After the Great Cultural Revolution, the rents were no longer paid to the owners.
In Hangzhou City, the capital of Zhejiang Province in eastern China, a group of property owners gather outside the Housing Administration Bureau every Monday morning to ask that their privately-owned properties maintained by the State be returned.
On Monday May 18, one petitioner said, “The government forced the property out of our grandparents’ hands. Now it’s time to return it back to us.”
Property owner Mr. Feng is an elderly man. He told The Epoch Times: “We have been gathering here every Monday since 2008. It’s been almost 3 years.”
Ms. Gao said, “My grandmother’s house was 47 square meters (506 square feet). The authorities forced her to bring the house under government maintenance. My grandmother had no choice but comply and her house has been taken away.
“We have asked the Housing Administration Bureau many times to return our property. In 1989 they offered to pay us 35 yuan (US$5.39) per square meter (per 10.76 square feet), which amounted to 1,600 yuan (US$246) for the house. That was way too little considering property prices. My grandmother did not accept the offer.”
Ms. Xu said, “Constitution Article 13 says that a ‘citizens’ lawful private property is inviolable. Is the Chinese Constitution merely a piece of paper?”
In recent years, many house owners across China have started to reclaim their private properties from government maintenance.
On Dec. 10, 2010, World Human Rights day, several dozen petitioners from Beijing, Yunnan Province, Henan Province, Zhejiang Province, and overseas, gathered in Shanghai to announce the establishment of the “Association of State-Maintained, Privately-Owned Rental Property Owners.”
In Shanghai, a group of house owners demanding the return of their properties posted an article and photos on aboluowang.com saying, “In 1958, many private properties were taken away. We’ve been waiting for a few decades now to have our properties returned.”
On May 11 a house owner, Mr. Yuan Guozhong, 76 years, told The Epoch Times that about 20 property owners went to the Wenzhou City government to petition and were rejected. Standing at a distance from the government building, they chanted slogans saying “lawfully return our properties!” Suddenly 30 policemen stormed out of the government building and arrested 67-year-old Kong Fannan and 72-year-old Li Sue.
Owner Tang Changqiang said that his family has been asking for the return of property since 1959 with no results. Over the past several decades, generations of property owners went through similar ordeals. In the pursuit of retrieving their lawful private property, they feel defeated. This has been a heavy psychological burden for them.
The Chinese state has never published the number of this type of rental properties. However, some non-governmental organizations claim that there are over 1 million such properties, some even claim there are several million.
On Sept. 18, 1964, the Supreme People’s Court issued a document titled “Owners of state-maintained, privately–owned rental properties have lost their property rights,” and the document has been used by officials at different levels as a proof that the owners do not have any rights in the properties.
Prominent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng wrote about the rental properties in September 2005 (http://nj-yhml.cn/jzf.htm). He said, “Owners and their families from many places are sending me letters and calling me. They say the government agencies are now selling the rented properties, which were illegally obtained by the government over half a century ago.”
According to Gao’s investigation, the state’s drive to acquire rental properties started in May 1956, when the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee issued a document saying, “private property ownership in urban areas is in direct conflict with the establishment of socialism.” Therefore, the private properties must “be managed and rented under the full control of the government. The owners will be reasonably rewarded.”
Gao believes this “in actuality [is] coercion under the government’s despotic rule. The private property owners were forced to let the government manage their property. However, there was no change in property ownership.”
Gao said, “These rental properties still belong to the original owners and their families, even though after 1964 different government agencies issued multiple documents attempting to change the ownership. These documents go against the Constitution and thus are illegal and have no effect.”
Read the original Chinese article.
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The Chinese state has never published the number of this type of rental properties. However, some non-governmental organizations claim that there are over 1 million such properties, some even claim there are several million.
On Sept. 18, 1964, the Supreme People’s Court issued a document titled “Owners of state-maintained, privately–owned rental properties have lost their property rights,” and the document has been used by officials at different levels as a proof that the owners do not have any rights in the properties.
Prominent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng wrote about the rental properties in September 2005 (http://nj-yhml.cn/jzf.htm). He said, “Owners and their families from many places are sending me letters and calling me. They say the government agencies are now selling the rented properties, which were illegally obtained by the government over half a century ago.”
According to Gao’s investigation, the state’s drive to acquire rental properties started in May 1956, when the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee issued a document saying, “private property ownership in urban areas is in direct conflict with the establishment of socialism.” Therefore, the private properties must “be managed and rented under the full control of the government. The owners will be reasonably rewarded.”
Gao believes this “in actuality [is] coercion under the government’s despotic rule. The private property owners were forced to let the government manage their property. However, there was no change in property ownership.”
Gao said, “These rental properties still belong to the original owners and their families, even though after 1964 different government agencies issued multiple documents attempting to change the ownership. These documents go against the Constitution and thus are illegal and have no effect.”
Read the original Chinese article.
[email protected]
