A greedy Chinese homeowner in Jiangsu Province delayed a 38billion yuan railway project for two years by demanding to be paid millions of dollars for a modest house.
In 2020, China officially started the development of an ambitious high-speed railway project connecting Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. Contractors moved at blinding speed, and in just a few years, the 163.54 km-long railway was almost complete. All that was left was a stubborn “nail house” in Jiangsu province, whose owner refused to relocate unless he was offered an absurd amount of money. All the other owners in his village had accepted the Government’s offer to relocate, except for one family who thought they could hold out and force the authorities to pay their high price. After reaching a standstill, the local government built the railway bridge on both sides of the greedy owner’s house, virtually isolating the property.
The high-speed railway was supposed to be inaugurated in 2024, but because of the greedy house owner in Jiangsu, the official inauguration had to be postponed. At first, the owner asked for 100,000 yuan ($14,000) per square meter to move out, but authorities told them that the price was way higher than the official regulations allowed them to pay, but they didn’t care. On the contrary, the more they refused to pay, the higher the price they asked. At one point, they doubled their demands to 200,000 yuan ($28,000) per square meter, which added up to a total of $14 million for the entire property.
Known as Aunt Zhang, the owner of “the most stubborn nail house in Jiangsu,” thought she could get a better compensation offer than the rest of her fellow villagers because she knew the Government wouldn’t abandon the high-speed railway project with just her property in the way of its completion. She considered this chance as a once-in-a-lifetime payday and refused the otherwise generous offer made by local authorities – 5 million yuan ($700,000) and three houses of equal size to the one they had owned.
While the Government couldn’t simply abandon a 38 billion yuan project because of one greedy homeowner, it could certainly delay it. For two years, construction on the high-speed railway stalled, but authorities kept communication channels with Aunt Zhang open, hoping that the situation would be resolved amicably. Meanwhile, photos and drone videos of the nail house made national headlines, and the media scrutiny eventually became too much for Zhang. She developed severe neurasthenia and realized she could no longer live in this stressful environment.
Chinese media reported that Aunt Zhang finally gave in and announced that she and her family would accept the Government’s offer according to official regulations, and thus Jiangsu’s most stubborn house will no longer stand in the way of the 38billion yuan railway project.
