Despite what you see on tiktok or rednote,
China isn’t that nice a place to live.
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
Before we start the episode, remember we’re now in phase 2 of Operation Honey Pot.
Don’t know what that means?
I’ll link the episode below.
And watch until the end for an Operation Honey Pot update.
Imagine you’re walking through a tunnel
And on the other end is your dream home!
A beautiful, two story house…
Located in the middle of a freeway.
Yes this is real.
The owner didn’t want to sell his house
to developers so they literally just built the road around it.
You’d think they could have at least put ramps on the road so cars would safely fly over it.
The owner says he regrets not selling it now.
Though apparently it does draw tourists.
So this wasn’t as much an abuse of power by local authorities in cahoots
with corrupt property developers
, as it was an opportunity for an enterprising entrepreneur.
This is what’s called a nail house.
And yes, it happens so frequently there's a name for it.
It’s called that because the houses stick up like an old rusty nail
in an otherwise urban landscape
because the owner refused to make way for development
…perhaps being as tough and
stubborn as an old nail.
There’s some debate over the origin of the term.
China has seen rapid urbanization, a directive from the top of the Chinese Communist Party
. And since local governments can’t charge taxes,
working w hrough some unscrupulous land sales
was a great way to rake in huge sums of cash.
There are several notable “nail houses” in China,
Like this brick dwelling in the center of a plaza,
Or this mini-mansion in the middle of a road,
many of which have become tourist attractions.
Or, y’know, extra large planters.
I also hate moving, but these folks took it to another level.
And that brings me back to the owner of this nail house.
He’s a grandfather named Huang Ping,
although he’s been nicknamed “the strongest nail house owner.”
Huang lives in Jinxi with his 11 year-old grandson,
but they spend a significant amount of time in
the town center to avoid all of the construction noise.
According to Huang, he was offered almost $220,000 to relocate,
and also offered three other alternative homes,
but he rejected all of these offers.
So they just decided to build this massive motorway around his house.
Huang has had time to reflect on his decision
, and is now expressing regret,
fearing the constant noise the motorway will bring once completed.
He even told reporters that “If I could turn back time,
I would agree to the demolition conditions they offered.”
And that “now it feels like I lost a big bet.”
He’s not alone, either.
Some of the owners of these nail houses ultimately ended up accepting compensation
or alternative properties in exchange for demolition
because they got tired of all the attention they were getting.
Or, y’know, being in the middle of a road.
Others held out for a long time, hoping for an even better compensation package
from the authorities–which, as you can guess, didn’t go so well for them.
So why do these nail houses even exist?
Why don’t the homeowners just take the money or
alternative property and leave?
Do they not have any friends they can trick into
helping them move with promises of pizza and beer (corner box)?
Well, there are a couple of reasons, besides being attached to their homes like any normal person.
You can see how this, might have been bit more spacious
than Living in one of these tiny apartments.
You know before the road.
Residents say the new, smaller houses or high-rise apartments
they are being moved into are either too far from their fields
, too expensive, or ill-suited for their needs as farmers.
Others say that the offer they were given wasn’t fair.
The issue is in China, the government owns all the land,
whether in the countryside or big cities.
The way the Communist Party phrases that is that the people
own all the land collectively.
And since the Party represents the people, well…
You get stuff like this.
The only reason these houses don’t get knocked down,
like they used to, is that the central government has discouraged it.
So local officials and developers will “encourage” people to move.
Now this is important because we’ve had a bunch of Americans go on the Chinese
controlled app TikTok, or now, even more stupidly, RedNote
, get a bunch of Chinese propaganda videos
and think everyone in China has the right to cheap housing!”
Well keep in mind almost 1 billion people in China
live off less than 300 dollars a month.
And if you somehow manage to afford a home,
This can happen to it.
And now, Operation Honey Pot.
I told you in a special bonus China Uncensored episode
about how YouTube claimed there was nothing wrong with my channel,
and the reason I suddenly lost 5 million views
was just because people weren’t interested in my videos anymore.
I wasn’t buying it.
And you’ve proved YouTube wrong, with Operation Honey Pot.
So many of you are telling me you’re finally seeing China Uncensored videos again.
Great work, everyone!
And remember, we’re in phase 2 of Operation Honey Pot now.
Which means we’re really targeting the algorithm
. So there are three things I’m asking you to do:
one, watch China Uncensored videos all the way to the end.
Two, if you see one of my videos get recommended,
please click on it.
And three, keep liking my videos and leaving honey pot comments.
Thank you, my 50-Cent Army.
You’re the reason the show can continue.
Now keep the honey pots flowing!