Within a few days time, the houses and workshops in Daxing’s Xinjiancun (大兴的新建村), Beijing, have been cleared out. If it was not for the big fire that broke out there on November 18, killing 19 people and making headlines around the world, many would not have even known about this area in the southern outskirts of Beijing, just outside the 6th ring road.
In “The Non-Natives After the Fire: Where Do We Have to Go?” [大火之后的异乡人：我们该到哪里去?] journalist Wang Shan (王珊) at Sanlian Life Week, an influential Beijing-based weekly news magazine, reports on November 26 that the Daxing area is a place where thousands of migrant workers from all over China live together.
According to Sanlian Life Week‘s report, there were plans to vacate the area before, but the big Daxing fire accelerated the plans. Residents did not receive an official announcement about when the evacuation was taking place and in a “race against time” had to collect their belongings and leave their homes or workshops behind.
The large-scale evacuation campaign that was started in Daxing has now also been expanded to other areas of Beijing. Caixin News reports that the 40-day campaign by the municipal authorities is aimed at unlicensed developments to target “illegal structures” and “buildings with potential fire hazards,” but many people on Weibo and WeChat suggest the campaign is actually about driving unregistered, “low-end workers” out of the city – something that has been strongly refuted by Global Times and other state media outlets.
#环球时报 Editorial：Eviction no hallmark of an open Beijinghttps://t.co/WxJeJklIcX pic.twitter.com/6pL1wD9EWC
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) 24 november 2017
Beijing Daily reports that people evacuated out of one of the city’s many underground living areas said that they already felt like they were living in a “volcanic crater,” always worrying that this day would come.
On Chinese social media, the evictions have become a major topic of discussion. Photos of people leaving their homes are widely being shared on WeChat and Weibo, although many netizens complained that their posts on this subject were being “harmonized” (censored).
Via Weibo account ‘Everyday People’ (@每日人物)
“It is good that housing security is taken into consideration,” one netizen comments: “But why do people have to move out so hurriedly?”
Photo shared on Weibo by Jiemian Media (@界面).
After abandoning their homes, some people now seek temporary shelter in the city or other nearby places, and others are returning to their hometowns. According to ECNS, some individuals and organizations, including hostels, real-estate companies and restaurants, have reached to those who lost their homes and jobs by offering free accommodation, transportation or work opportunities. E-commerce giant JD.com is one of those companies. Many of the migrants and low-paid workers evicted from their homes were working as courier deliveries.
Although many people speak out against the evacuation campaign, there are also those who defend it: “A year ago people already knew the area had to be vacated, yet they did not move. They waited for people to die in a fire, and are now scolding authorities for having no humanity for clearing out the area.”
Fake news: netizens post pictures of the 2015 Nepal earthquake aftermath as if it were evicted workers in Beijing.
Others also warn netizens not to spread fake news, as one after the other posted photos of people lying on the streets at night, suggesting they were evacuated migrant workers who were freezing in the cold night. The photo, however, is from the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. Many commenters condemned the spread of the photos: “It is really low to compare yourself to these refugees,” some said.
Some netizens, unhappy with the campaign, shared a video of the 2008 Olympics song “Beijing Welcomes You.” One video, posted on November 26, was shared over 2500 times in a day, receiving thousands of likes. “Beijing still welcomes you,” some commented: “It just depends on where you come from.”
By Manya Koetse
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Miranda Barnes contributed to this story.
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