In Between Worlds: Wenling’s Dingzihu (Nail Houses)

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Understanding Neighborhood Change
Understanding the Source of the Resistance
Theoretical Analysis
Potential Outcomes
Resolving the Issue
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

The neighborhood of Wenling in China’s Zhejiang province has been slated for development by the Chinese government resulting in numerous investments being made into its road infrastructure as well as the demolishment of old buildings to make way for high-rises and apartment complexes (Mertha, 2009). What is unusual about this particular case is that every few miles you encounter buildings that seem out of place from the modern construction projects that are being built. They are easily noticeable since they are old, dilapidated and are apparently falling apart at the seams yet they are situated in the middle of roads and housing complexes. These are Wenling’s Dingzihu or “nail houses” since, based on a local cultural colloquialism, they are considered as stubborn nails that water and no electricity since these were disconnected by the government; however the residents have stubbornly refused to move despite numerous attempts by the government to appeal to them with an adequate method of financial compensation (Hess, 2010).

This case is interesting since it showcases a situation where a neighborhood is facing transition, yet some of the residents are refusing to do so. It is based on this that this paper will examine the case of Wenling’s Nail houses and attempt to understand why they exist in the face of China’s infrastructure renaissance. The position of this paper on this type of urban social and ecological change is that despite the positive effects of the modernization of Wenling, there need to be sufficient people agreeing to cause broad acceptability of changes in an environment otherwise there will be social resistance to change due to the unilateral influence of an outside party.

Understanding Neighborhood Change

There are three distinct “schools of thought” when it comes to neighborhood change, these consist of ecological, subcultural and political economy changes. At their heart, they state that changes to a neighborhood, whether positive or negative, can occur due to changes in economic activity, ecological factors or merely trends in human migration. Resistance to these changes is frequently framed in the context of methods that impact the surrounding neighborhood (Hung-Gay, Jau-Lian & Qingfeng, 2010). These consist of lower taxes to encourage residency, the creation of factories to bring in more workers or changes to the local ecology to prevent nature from impacting properties. In other words, resistance to change in these cases applies to the positive improvements on the surrounding landscape and not necessarily on the individual people. This is what makes the case of Wenling interesting since it is the individuals within the community that are against positive improvements to it. This goes against the conventional concepts of resistance to change when it applies to neighborhoods. Yes, it is understandable that some people will not like their properties being taken away but since they are being given sufficient compensation, as seen in the case in many countries around the world, why are they taking the resistance to change so far? It is often the case that Wenling’s nail houses have construction crews all around them while apartment complexes and roads are built surrounding the property.

In fact, in some cases, a nail house was seen on an artificially created hill since the construction crews had dug all around it. One particular instance saw a man drive off demolition crews sent by the government using dozens of homemade cannons that had fireworks coming out of them. This shows considerable resistance to positive change in a neighborhood that does not make sense. Why would people subject themselves to such misery all for the sake of keeping their dilapidated property?

Understanding the Source of the Resistance

In order to understand the resistance of the nail house dwellers in Wenling to urban social and environmental change, this section will detail the current issues surrounding China’s real estate market. The biggest problem the Chinese real estate property is experiencing is the massive rise in property prices within the country wherein an average studio, or one-bedroom apartment, is well beyond the ability of an average worker in China to afford. To understand the disparity between the average income in China and the price of apartments in a local city, the most important factor that should be considered is the “uniqueness” of China’s state-run corporations. Many construction companies within the country are owned and controlled by the state with their financing coming from state-run banks and institutions (Ferguson, 2011). The advantage of this system is that it allows investment capital from banks to flow into state-run companies without the same restrictions that can be found in other banking and real estate development systems. From the early to mid-2000s, China spent billions of dollars on public and private property projects to prop up its GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

This worked in the short term and led to a rapid increase in the price of land in several regions. In fact, various government districts in China formed their own autonomous state-run real estate companies and sold land as a means of propping up their yearly budgets (Ferguson, 2011). The property value was seen as a continuously appreciating asset (which it normally is due to inflation) resulting in many regional governments picking up on the trend of creating their own state-owned real estate development firms and capitalizing on the developments through state-owned banks or land sales. Contributing to this trend were the various private real estate companies that also had the backing of the state at the time. The problem with this system is that high land prices brought about through rampant speculation resulted in apartment prices increasing exponentially. At the time (the early 2000s), the average income of a worker in China was 21,002 RNB per year while the average price of a small studio apartment was $100,000 or more depending on the city (Ferguson, 2011). While there were affordable housing initiatives implemented by the government, the price of land still made these out of reach for most workers in the country.

This situation is reflected in the case of Wenling wherein there are many property developments headed by state-run developers but little in the way of actual buyers for these projects due to their cost. The previous owners of these properties have left resulting in a smaller population every time expansion occurs in Wenling (Ferguson, 2011). Going back to the original argument in this paper that there need to be sufficient people agreeing to actually cause broad acceptability of changes within an environment, the declining population in Wenling and the empty buildings that do not have a replacement population results in a form of social stratification wherein the current residents in the old houses become the new “society” so to speak in areas of Wenling. Due to the decline in the population and the obvious negative impact of the development on the local environment and community, it is not that surprising that resistance to change will occur. The development of resistance is further supported by the lack of countervailing arguments from other locals since many of them have moved out. For the owners of the nail houses in Wenling, the orders of the government are from a far-off entity that has no direct influence over the local social structure.

Theoretical Analysis

To understand why this behavior occurred in a rural area like Wenling and not a highly urbanized area like Beijing, it is would be necessary to examine the first of Merton’s five types of adaptation. The first step, conformity, states that social conformity occurs when an individual accepts predefined social goals as dictated by society and seeks to achieve them (Jacoby & Kothari, 2014). The attitudes of the residents of Beijing differ significantly from those in Wenling since they are used to a highly urbanized environment and there is a considerable local demand for affordable properties. In the case of Wenling, such attitudes are largely absent and combined with the decline in the population preventing conformity from taking place. This helps to explain the presence of the nail houses in the neighborhood since it is hard to implement compliance when surrounding urbanization lacks sufficient members of the local community that agree to it (Jacoby & Kothari, 2014). Another way of looking at this situation is through the Marxian theory (also known as the economic theory of social change). The fundamental conjecture of this theory rests on the assumption that changes in the economic infrastructure of a particular society can enact significant levels of social change. Under this theoretical assumption, business is inexplicably intertwined with social change due to its influence on social structures. This was noted earlier in this paper when China’s economic “boom” resulted in the creation of new social classes and influenced the creation of new social norms.

As such, through Marxian theory, it can be stated that the increase in home/apartment prices, which had a definite impact on China’s economy, also caused people within highly urbanized sectors like Beijing to embrace urbanization resulting in few if any cases of nail houses in the city (Jacoby & Kothari, 2014). While it may seem like the case of Wenling defies this convention, what you need to understand is that the local development is not a result of a natural transition and improvement; rather, it is the direct consequence of artificial intervention by outside forces. Basically, developers are creating buildings that do not match local demand based on speculation. There is a lack of sufficient economic factors in effect in the case of Wenling cause a sufficient social change. As a result, Marxian theory does not go into effect which explains why nail houses are in the neighborhood. Social conventions in the local area do not match what is occurring to the general environment resulting in a significant resistance to change from several members of the local population (Jacoby & Kothari, 2014). It should also be noted that Merton’s third method of adaptation, retreatism, goes into effect wherein the individual involved rejects the social goals of their culture (subservience to the state) and only withdraws from the goal entirely. This act also explains why the nail houses continue to be a problem in other developments across China since the creation of the local community does not match what is needed in Marxian theory to enact sufficient social change for the local populace to accept the changes that are being put in effect.

Potential Outcomes

The theory of unilinear evolution which applies to sociological changes within a population states that civilizations gradually advance in a linear fashion based on non-repeating trends. It is a method of social development that does not falter and is based on trends in social norms and behaviors that continue from one generation to the next. Utilizing the theoretical framework of unilinear evolution, one potential outcome of the impact of the changes in Wenling’s urban landscape on social norms and behaviors is a continuation of the current resistance to change as the neighborhood continues to undergo changes yet the local economy does not catch up nor match localized demand (Jacoby & Kothari, 2014). Without sufficient matching of the domestic market in Wenling, it is likely that the area will experience a population decline in the next ten years due to this level of artificial development and localized resentment over the changes.

It should be noted though that not all people in Wenling fall under this same line of thinking. Under Merton’s second type of adaptation, innovation, individuals within a society can accept its goals but not necessarily adhere to them since they are unable to due to a lack of resources. It is due to this that they innovate and adapt resulting in them applying other methods to survive within this environment. The result of such actions is that there are some local citizens in Wenling that choose not to go along with the redevelopment of the local area and only move away to someplace else with the money they were given for the property.

Resolving the Issue

What you need to understand when looking at the issue is that it has been artificially created due to the government’s actions in China. Since state-run companies control a substantial portion of the real estate and banking market, this allows state-run companies to act in ways that do not conform to practices in capitalist economies. This is one of the reasons why the current issue of overpricing is present since inefficient practices were implemented at the onset of China’s real estate boom which contributed heavily towards bad real estate investments. What is needed in this case, to resolve the issue of the nail houses and the decline of Wenling’s population, is via artificial methods and not let the market address it on its own. Combined with the Marxian theory of the economy affecting social behaviors, it is likely that the high home prices will continue to negatively impact the population rates in Wenling resulting in the possibility of more people resisting the change. What the government in China needs to do is implement even more comprehensive practices to offset the high home prices in Wenling. This can be done by first gradually decreasing preferential bank support for state-run companies and implementing new measures when it comes to the type of development projects that can be created. China has already shown that its central government is capable of implementing unilateral actions when it comes to its state-run companies and, as such, it could dictate how particular properties can be priced and the type of subsidies that can be implemented.

Conclusion

Based on everything that has been examined so far in this paper, it can be stated that there need to be sufficient people agreeing to cause broad acceptability of changes within an environment otherwise there will be social resistance to change due to the unilateral influence of an outside party. The case of nail houses in Wenling on is a clear-cut example of this idea in practice. However, what this paper has also revealed is if nothing is done to reverse this trend shortly, it is likely that Wenling may experience an irreversible population decline. What is needed is to make properties more affordable and reduce the occurrence of nail houses, and the drop of the population is direct government intervention to make them cheaper. This can consist of subsidies in their construction or making the payment terms more affordable to the average Chinese citizen. Without these measures in place, it is likely that the social trends mentioned in this paper will continue which would have dire results for China as a whole. All in all, this article has proven that urban development can have an impact on society; however, it should not be assumed that the same situation that occurred in Wenling will happen in other cities as well. The variances seen in global social development have shown that individual communities develop along their own paths and, as such, applying the solutions that occurred in one society may not apply to another.

Reference List

Ferguson, N. (2011). Gloating China, Hidden Problems. Newsweek, 158(8/9), 6.

Hess, S. (2010). Nail-Houses, Land Rights, and Frames of Injustice on China’s Protest Landscape. Asian Survey, 50(5), 908-926.

Hung-Gay, F., Jau-Lian, J., & Qingfeng, L. (2010). Development of China’s Real Estate Market. Chinese Economy, 43(1), 71-92

Jacoby, T., & Kothari, U. (2014). Introduction: Bringing social theory back into issues of development. Progress In Development Studies, 14(3), 215-220.

Mertha, A. C. (2009). From ‘Rustless Screws’ to ‘Nail Houses’: The Evolution of Property Rights in China. Orbis, 53(2), 233-249.

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