Shenzhen's Urban Villages to be upgraded?

[Randy W]

from the Guardian UK

 

Hundreds of thousands displaced as Shenzhen ‘upgrades’ its urban villages

 

Today, the skyscrapers that line Shenzhen’s central business district still stand within a short drive of colossal manufacturing plants, but this is changing, as the government seeks to remodel old neighbourhoods. A combination of national and local plans, and directives aim to speed up the city’s transformation towards more white-collar employment.

The city has turned to a handful of private companies for its urban village redevelopment, chief among them being Vanke. The Shenzhen-based Fortune 500 company is working on 33 villages, each with a population of 10,000-30,000. Vanke sees itself as “reimagining urban spaces to provide people with a more comprehensive living experience”.

The company negotiates with landlords, offering renovations in exchange for contracts that allow Vanke to rent out the apartments for, typically, 10 to 12 years. The company refused to go on the record, but a source close to it claimed the price of its renovated apartments was “in a similar range” to that before renovation.

Sophie Chen, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong’s Housing Policy for Migrant Workers project, disagrees. She estimates the new rents are double or triple the original rates. “The tenants are also asked to pay extra estate fees,” she says, “so it’s impossible for workers who only earn around 3,000 yuan a month to afford them.”

Many residents in the urban villages of Qinghu and Shuiwei – which have already been partly remodelled – say their experience backs her claims. For those who cannot afford the new rents, reactions range from outrage to resignation.

 

[Randy W]

Jiaying's building is in an urban village in Yulin. Of course, what they do in Shenzhen won't affect her. Even so, I'd be interested to hear the details about how this affects landlords.

 

The company negotiates with landlords, offering renovations in exchange for contracts that allow Vanke to rent out the apartments for, typically, 10 to 12 years.

 

[Randy W]

An excellent video from Winston

 

[tsap seui]

[Randy W]

More about the "paradise" that was paved over . . . "If only Shenzhen were so interesting today."

from the SCMP

Myth busting: Shenzhen’s sleazy past as short-lived gangster and gambling hub Shum Chun

• Before there was Shenzhen there was Shum Chun, a town of casinos, trains, triads and the Celestial King of the South, once known as the Monte Carlo of the East

Quote

But the truth is more intriguing and, it must be said, far sleazier. Well into the 1930s, Shum Chun, the town that gave Shenzhen its name, was a gangsters’ haven serving risk-hungry Hongkongers pouring across the river that separated the British colony from the mainland into the “Monte Carlo of the East” as they gambled, caroused, cavorted and, perhaps, got rich quick.
Shum Chun welcomed all comers, so long as they spent. In an article dated October 23, 1937 in Canadian newspaper The Leader-Post, Hong Kong journalist and regular visitor George Chow noted at any given roulette table, “Britons, Americans, Frenchmen, Italians, Portuguese, Parsees, Hindus, Mexicans, Spaniards, Swedes, Germans, Japanese, Siamese and Chinese all rubbing shoulders together as they watched the little white ball twirling, each hoping it would fall into the slot bearing their number”.
Gambling was the main lure but there were also dance halls with orchestras and taxi dancers, as well as both Western and Chinese restaurants. Everyone felt safe, the local triads having been told by the powers-that-be that casino punters were off-limits when it came to robbery, kidnapping or extortion.