Chen Bin, the retired world champion of finswimming, questioned "selective" forced demolition. Yesterday afternoon, a microblog post about the forced demolition of a villa owned by a world champion once again drew strong attention from netizens. The content of the microblog post claimed that Chen Bin, the retired world champion of finswimming, and Zhu Baozhen, the current world champion of finswimming, were standing on the ruins of the forcibly demolished villa in Yinying Lake Villa in Shiling Town, Huadu District, Guangzhou, to protect their rights, questioning relevant departments for "selective" law enforcement. The microblog also posted photos of Chen Bin and his fiancée wearing medals and holding up signs for rights protection.
The world champion's wedding villa was demolished yesterday afternoon as Chen Bin accepted an interview with reporters. Chen Bin is from Huadu District, Guangzhou. Before retiring, he was a member of the national team for finswimming. During his athletic career, he won four world championships, broke three world records, and was the first athlete in Huadu District's history to break a world record. He has been awarded the "National Sports Honor Medal" and the "Guangdong Outstanding Contribution Award" multiple times. His fiancée, Zhu Baozhen, is a current member of the national finswimming team, also a world champion who has broken world records multiple times and is known as the "Dolphin Princess."
Chen Bin said that in 2007, he spent most of his savings and retirement benefits to purchase the No. 28 villa in Meilejing, Yinying Villa, Huadu District, although it was a half-finished villa at the time of purchase, but the developer said it could be torn down and rebuilt. In 2010, the family decided to demolish and rebuild the villa, preparing to decorate it for his own wedding. However, when the unfinished villa was torn down, he and his family applied to the relevant department for construction approval, but the relevant department said that it could not be approved.
Seeing that most owners in the villa area had torn down and rebuilt their villas, therefore, Chen Bin and his family also decided to rebuild the villa. Unexpectedly, on January 30 this year, the villa built by Chen Bin was forcibly demolished by the urban management department. Now, the No. 28 villa has completely collapsed, leaving only remnants of steel and cement.
Regarding the demolition of the house, Chen Bin's mother believed there were flaws in the forced demolition procedure. Because, before the forced demolition, she and her family never received a forced demolition notice. In a "Decision Notice for Administrative Compulsory Measures to Investigate Illegal Construction" she provided, the signature receipt column was marked as "refused to sign", "You can check our phone records, we were never notified of such matters, where did the 'refusal to sign' come from?"
"There are so many villas in the neighborhood identified as illegal constructions, why were only our two villas completely torn down? Where is the fairness and impartiality of law enforcement?" Chen Bin repeatedly emphasized.
An informed owner revealed the secret behind it. Every time a villa was going to be forcibly demolished, a woman around 50 years old would call the owner of the villa to be demolished, implying that human relations outweigh everything, suggesting that the owner take money to smooth relations with relevant departments, ensuring that the illegally constructed villa would not be demolished. Even if forced demolition occurred, enough time would be given to those who smoothed relationships.
Family members questioned the fairness of law enforcement. The Shiling Urban Management Team under the Huadu Branch of the Guangzhou Municipal Urban Management Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau issued a forced demolition notice to the owners of 10 villas, stating that the demolition would begin on July 11 last year. Many owners told reporters that so far, only two buildings have been completely demolished.
Previously, the urban management department responded to related doubts, claiming that there was no issue of "selective law enforcement" in urban management. As time went by, the doubts of the owners arose again, "Why are only two households completely demolished in the villa area now?" Mr. Ma's lawyer, Wang Hai, representing the owner of villa No. 7 in Meilejing, questioned.
Reporters learned within the villa area that other illegal constructions, such as the one at Tianying Road No. 19, although having added an extra floor, still have sand and gravel for decoration placed at the entrance. The most controversial ones within the villa area are the luxurious villas at Nos. 60 and 61 in the villa complex. This villa is five stories high, with a large yard at the entrance, a small basketball court, and also an underground garage.
Why haven't the remaining illegal constructions been forcibly demolished? Dissatisfied owners directly think: "They have money and connections."
While the reporter was interviewing at the ruins of the forcibly demolished villa No. 7 in Meilejing, a man around 60 years old hurriedly found the reporter saying not to photograph his villa. He claimed that he was also demolishing his kitchen himself, but the exterior walls of his two-story villa remained intact. The man also revealed the reason why the illegal villa had not been forcibly demolished: he was also looking everywhere for people to smooth out relations, also worrying that his villa couldn't be preserved. This man also suggested that Mr. Ma should stop finding reporters to expose the matter. He would contact the owners of illegal constructions in the community, raise funds together to smooth relations, and help Mr. Ma restore the villa on the original site.
Southern Daily reporter Tang Kaifeng
Intern Xu Baibo
Coordinator Hu Nianfei
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