Chen Tianming’s shaky stair slabs and twisted beams are surrounded by demolished houses, the sky in southwestern China, a stubbornly shaky monument to a man.
The authorities razed the ground in 2018 and established a profitable tourist destination in most villages in the Gyu Village province in an area known for its spectacular rice patty (Choptacular) rice fields and otherworldly mountain landscapes.
Chen, 42, refused to leave, breached a string of demolition notices after the project staggered to build the humble stone bungalow of his family.
Now, he hosts a confusing 10-story, pyramid-shaped shaky balconies and other attachments in Warren, who compares to the fantastic creations of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
“I started trying to renovate and expand our home out of practicality,” Chen told AFP on a sultry May afternoon.
“But then, I liked a kind of interest and hobby that I liked more,” he said.
Chen’s obsession with tinkering and lack of building permits continues to arouse anger from the local government.
He slept on the higher floor in the wind, dozens of ropes and cables tied the house to the ground, as if it might surface all day.
“When I’m here…I get the feeling of nomadism,” Chen stared at the apartment building, the airport and the distant mountains.
“People often say it’s unsafe and should be removed…but I will definitely never let anyone remove it.”
– “Nail House” –
Local authorities once had a huge plan to build an 800-acre tourist destination on Chen’s local soil – including theaters and artificial lakes.
They promised to compensate the villagers, but Chen’s parents refused, and he vowed to help them protect the house they built in the 1980s.
Even if the neighbors moved out and their house was overturned, Chen stayed and even slept alone in the house for two months just in case (the developer) knocked it down at night”.
Six months later, like many unpopular developments with a few debts, the resort was cancelled.
Chen is almost in the ruined village and is now the owner of the “nail house,” a Chinese term for those who are digging out and refusing to move, despite an official offer of compensation.
Nail houses are sometimes a weird Chinese development and part of private property laws, and sometimes make headlines for delaying monetary fundraising construction projects or forcing developers to move roads or build dilapidated old houses.
Even though Chen forged ahead of time, he completed the fifth floor in 2019, the sixth floor in 2022 and the seventh floor in 2023, he continued to be threatened with demolition.
Last August, his home was designated as an illegal building and he was ordered to destroy everything except the original bungalow in five days.
He said he spent tens of thousands of yuan to fight notices in court despite losing several preliminary hearings.
But he continued to appeal and the next hearing was postponed.
“I’m not worried. No one is developing this land now, and they don’t need to knock it down,” he said.
– Tourist destination –
In recent years, it is ironic that Chen’s house has begun to lure tourists themselves.
On Chinese social media, users describe it as China’s strangest nail house, likening it to the Madcap buildings “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Spimited Assiped Oway” of Miyazaki Studios’ masterpiece.
When he fell at dusk, Chen illuminated his house with decorative lanterns, and people gathered on nearby dirt roads to admire the scene.
“It’s beautiful,” he told AFP when the local residents took the photo.
“If there is no security issue, it could become a (official) local landmark.”
Chen said the house made many tourists remember their whimsical childhood fantasies.
“(People) dream of building houses for themselves with their own hands … but most people can’t achieve it,” he told AFP.
“Not only did I think of it, but I made it a reality.”
SAM/MJW/JE/HMN
