Zhao Zifa, "Several million jingzufang owners support Zou Tao's 'homes boycott'"

Delegates of "owners of private housing unreasonably and illegally deprived of their rights" state: following the end of the Cultural Revolution, our property rights to housing owned for generations by our forefathers, and temporary rented out in the 50's by the state, were arbitrarily expropriated by the Ministry of Construction. Therefore we several million "owners of private housing unreasonably and illegally deprived of their rights" in China support Mr. Zou Tao of Shenzhen's "housing boycott" in defence of rights.

The jingzufang issue is long-standing. In the 1950s, the CCP announced "nationwide state management of rental of urban private home-owner's housing", calling it "jingzu" (rented out [by the state]), and, acting as agent down to the present, has not returned the housing to the owners.

Some of this housing was inherited from ancestors in the Qing Dynasty, some was bought laboriously by the owners' fathers, etc. Despite the Japanese invasion, and the Kuomintang dynasty, they held onto this housing, but after the Communist party came, it was illegitimately expropriated. The jingzufang owners have petitioned but so far the housing has never been returned.

Because they were "private homeowners," many jingzufang owners underwent struggle, merciless beatings, killings, expulsion to the countryside, etc., at the hands of the Red Guards; a great many died in despair.

Zhejiang jingzufang owner Lin Dagang, 67 this year, says: We kept our family home in our hands through the Qing Dynasty, the Kuomintang era, until the Communist Party "rented it out" in 1958. Lin has gone white-haired petitioning about it, but he has not received back an inch of the attractive 500 square meter two-story courtyard house he inherited.

Many jingzufang owners lodge petitions at level after level, until they reach the Chinese Ministry of Construction. Their lone appeals are one after another invalidated, one after another dismissed by the authorities, and over 50 years later, the question of the nation's several million jingzufang is virtually unsolved.

Other jingzufang owners: We've gone from black-haired middle age to white-haired senior citizens, we've not spoken up for half a century, but who is going to take care of us?

How about jointly demanding a resolution?

On 14 May, several hundred delegates of jingzufang owners around the country prearranged to jointly petition the Ministry of Construction, but rumours leaked out. not only feeling no concern for jingzufang owners' problems, the Ministry decided in advance to promote their joint petition to the "political" level.

The Beijing police either detained delegates of Beijing jingzufang owner beforehand, or put them under house arrest; Public Security and Ministry of Construction officials nationwide united to surround petitioners to the capital at local railway stations.

80 delegates from the northeast were intercepted there; two days earlier, only two people arrived in Beijing having escaped capture in Shandong and Shanxi; Tianshui delegates could only board the train after jumping onto the platform from the visitor's room window; and some delegates only reached Beijing after switching to an airplane; while some delegates like Lin Dagang only escaped interception because they got to Beijing ahead of time.

On 14 May, jingzufang owners lined up for more than 100 meters in front of the Ministry of Construction petition office; some of them stated that they were surrounded by police monitoring them, and did not dare to shout slogans or to gather in the same place for fear of being labeled "political." A Mr XYZ was detained by the public Security who were said to have given him a sentence: if too many people gathered, the charge against him would be established.

The result this nationwide united petition by jingzufang owners, was that petitions were intercepted regionally; in Beiji there was detention with monitoring, harassment and threat of legal sanction. The jingzufang owners could not express their suffering.

The owners stated that their experience of expropriation of their real estate for over 50 years, and fruitless heartbreaking petitioning for help, prove that under the dictatorial and corrupt rule of the Communist Party, what safeguard can there be for real estate? Not only can the authorities take away our lifetime's blood and sweat with a stroke of the pen, moreover should you dare to demand return of your property they can label you as they please and throw you in jail.

Delegates of "owners of private housing unreasonably and illegally deprived of their rights" state: we are living proof of how precarious is the purchase of housing in China. We support Shenzhen Mr. Zou Tao "not to purchase homes firmly the movement" the Uygur power motion.