Building new lives by the Drum and Bell towers

Fierce controversy has built up around the planned demolition and renovation of the area surrounding Beijing's Drum and Bell towers. Some residents, especially those living in poor conditions, can't wait to be relocated. Others say they will resist.

The complexities surround concerns about the remoteness of resettlement locations, compensation and the disintegration of longstanding communities. This special report examines the various dimensions of the demolition and renovation.

Building new lives or demolishing old bonds? These are the questions facing planners and residents who live near Beijing's Drum and Bell towers. Cheng Anqi, Zhang Zixuan and Han Bingbin report in Beijing.

The Geng family can't wait to move out of their miserable living conditions. Li Lihong's folks do not plan on going anywhere if they can help it. These households represent, perhaps, the spectrum of sentiment among residents to be relocated from the area surrounding Beijing's Drum and Bell towers.

Residents will be moved to the city's fringes by government order to clear the way for redevelopment by a private company that intends to transform the residential area into a cultural industry and tourism zone. The first phase will relocate 146 households. The 66-year-old matriarch of the Geng household, who refuses to give her surname, says she has been waiting for the renovation since plans were announced in the 1950s.

Her seven-member family, which spans three generations, crams into a 12-sq-m space with a 2-sq-m separate space that serves as a kitchen.

Geng is tired of being rained on while transporting food from the kitchen to the living area.

"I use three rooms to prepare lunch," she says.

Because there is no gas line, she operates a homemade rig to cook. The family placed buckets of water on the roof to heat them for summertime showers until an electric water heater made showers in their house possible in the warmer months. The family then hikes the chilly distance to the public shower, which is difficult for Geng's son, who has a leg disability, and has often made her granddaughter sick.

Her 45-year-old son, who refused to be named, strongly opposes many experts' views that the government should keep the hutong as they are.

"These experts probably have several houses, so they don't really get to understand our pain," he says.

But money is his first question about the relocation.

"It all depends on how much compensation we get. If the government gives us 20 million yuan ($3.17 million), I would be happy even if they relocate me to Hebei province."

But aside from price, he says the family needs at least three 20-sq-m apartments.

If the relocation is aborted again, he suggests the government convert homes into courtyards. He would be happy with a 70-sq-m courtyard, he says.