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Despite what you see on tiktok or rednote,

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China isn’t that nice a place to live.

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Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.

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Before we start the episode, remember we’re now [br]in phase 2 of Operation Honey Pot.

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Don’t know what that means?

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I’ll link the episode below.

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And watch [br]until the end for an Operation Honey Pot update.

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Imagine you’re walking through a tunnel

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And on the other end is your dream [br]home!

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A beautiful, two story house…

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Located in the middle of a [br]freeway.

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Yes this is real.

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The owner didn’t want to sell his house

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to developers so they literally [br]just built the road around it.

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You’d think they could have at least put ramps [br]on the road so cars would safely fly over it.

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The owner says he regrets not selling it now.

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Though apparently it does draw tourists.

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So this wasn’t as much an abuse of [br]power by local authorities in cahoots

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with corrupt property developers

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, as it was an [br]opportunity for an enterprising entrepreneur.

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This is what’s called a nail house.

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And yes, it happens so frequently there's [br]a name for it.

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It’s called that because the houses stick up like an old rusty [br]nail

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in an otherwise urban landscape

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because the owner refused to make way for [br]development

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…perhaps being as tough and

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stubborn as an old nail.

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There’s some [br]debate over the origin of the term.

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China has seen rapid urbanization, a [br]directive from the top of the Chinese Communist Party

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. And since local governments [br]can’t charge taxes,

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working w hrough some unscrupulous land sales

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was [br]a great way to rake in huge sums of cash.

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There are several notable “nail houses” in China,

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Like this brick dwelling in the center of a plaza,

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Or this mini-mansion in the middle of a road,

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many of which have become tourist attractions.

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Or, y’know, extra large planters.

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I also hate moving, but these [br]folks took it to another level.

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And that brings me back to [br]the owner of this nail house.

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He’s a grandfather named Huang Ping,

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although he’s [br]been nicknamed “the strongest nail house owner.”

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Huang lives in Jinxi with [br]his 11 year-old grandson,

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but they spend a significant amount of time in

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the town center to avoid all [br]of the construction noise.

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According to Huang, he was offered [br]almost $220,000 to relocate,

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and also offered three other alternative [br]homes,

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but he rejected all of these offers.

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So they just decided to build this [br]massive motorway around his house.

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Huang has had time to reflect on his [br]decision

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, and is now expressing regret,

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fearing the constant noise the [br]motorway will bring once completed.

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He even told reporters that [br]“If I could turn back time,

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I would agree to the demolition [br]conditions they offered.”

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And that “now it feels like I lost a big bet.”

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He’s not alone, either.

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Some of the owners of these nail houses ultimately [br]ended up accepting compensation

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or alternative properties in exchange for demolition

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because they [br]got tired of all the attention they were getting.

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Or, y’know, being in the middle of a road.

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Others held out for a long time, hoping [br]for an even better compensation package

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from the authorities–which, as you [br]can guess, didn’t go so well for them.

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So why do these nail houses even exist?

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Why [br]don’t the homeowners just take the money or

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alternative property and leave?

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Do they [br]not have any friends they can trick into

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helping them move with promises [br]of pizza and beer (corner box)?

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Well, there are a couple of reasons, besides being [br]attached to their homes like any normal person.

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You can see how this, might [br]have been bit more spacious

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than Living in one of these tiny apartments.

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You know before the road.

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Residents say the new, smaller houses or high-rise apartments

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they are being moved into are either too far from their fields

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, too expensive, [br]or ill-suited for their needs as farmers.

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Others say that the offer [br]they were given wasn’t fair.

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The issue is in China, the government owns all the [br]land,

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whether in the countryside or big cities.

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The way the Communist Party phrases [br]that is that the people

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own all the land collectively.

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And since the [br]Party represents the people, well…

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You get stuff like this.

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The only reason [br]these houses don’t get knocked down,

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like they used to, is that the central [br]government has discouraged it.

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So local officials and developers [br]will “encourage” people to move.

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Now this is important because we’ve had [br]a bunch of Americans go on the Chinese

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controlled app TikTok, or now, even more [br]stupidly, RedNote

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, get a bunch of Chinese propaganda videos

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and think everyone in [br]China has the <i>right</i> to cheap housing!”

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Well keep in mind almost 1 billion people in [br]China

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live off less than 300 dollars a month.

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And if you somehow manage to afford a home,

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This can happen to it.

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And now, Operation Honey Pot.

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I told you in a special bonus China [br]Uncensored episode

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about how YouTube claimed there was nothing wrong with my [br]channel,

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and the reason I suddenly lost 5 million views

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was just because people [br]weren’t interested in my videos anymore.

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I wasn’t buying it.

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And you’ve proved [br]YouTube wrong, with Operation Honey Pot.

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So many of you are telling me you’re finally [br]seeing China Uncensored videos again.

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Great work, everyone!

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And remember, we’re in phase [br]2 of Operation Honey Pot now.

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Which means we’re really targeting the algorithm

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. So there are [br]three things I’m asking you to do:

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one, watch China Uncensored videos all the way to the end.

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Two, if you see one of my videos get recommended,

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please click on it.

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And three, keep liking [br]my videos and leaving honey pot comments.

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Thank you, my 50-Cent Army.

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You’re the reason the show can continue.

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Now keep the honey pots flowing!