OLYMPICS/ Culture
Making room for a dream
By Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-31 10:57
Shortly after the IOC awarded the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing, Na Heli knew things were about to change. For one thing, he would soon have to find a new home for his family.
"To make way for the Olympics is both quite a happy and quite a sad occasion," said the 44-year-old man.
Na Heli visits the site of his former home. |
In 2002, villagers of Wabian in north Beijing, whose ancestors have lived there since the 18th century, or the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), were told the village had been divided into two: the north Wabian Village where the Olympic Green is and the south Wabian Village where the National Stadium is located.
A total of 3.91 sq km of land outside the capital's North Fourth Ring Road, originally set aside for residential use and farming, were subsequently cleared out for possible use for the Olympics prior to 1993 when Beijing was a candidate for the 2000 Summer Games.
"Moving away is a great sacrifice in terms of the transformation of our work, our lives and the whole environment we live in," Na said. "For some, the change has been for the better, but for most of us, it's more difficult than before."
Fearful that relocating would hurt their income, villagers were reluctant to move. As a result, there was confusion.
Na and his late father, a former Party secretary of the village, had decided their family should take the lead and put the pains behind them. The family moved out even before a deal was struck between villagers and developers. They also urged other families to move.
"I felt lots of pressure as the village chief," said Na, who was elected captain of Wabian Village the same day that Beijing learned it had won the 2008 bid. "I knew I was about to go through a lot because 1,000 families in our village would have to leave our home and relocate."
The government-assigned developer eventually offered to pay 4,000 yuan ($529) for each sq m of the old houses and each family received an average of about 1 million yuan ($132,000), more or less covering the expense for an apartment outside downtown Beijing. It was still short of their expected long-term incomes.
Villagers moved out of the ancient village within a month during late 2002. There were no "nail houses", or homeowners who refused to leave, said Na.
"I told the demolishing team to start work until all the villagers have left," recalled Na. Construction of the Bird's Nest started in late December 2003.
Now with a year to go before the Games, Na tried to digest all the changes before his eyes."We used to grow rice right under the Bird's Nest," Na told China Daily while standing between the nearly completed stadium and the land he used to live on.
"My family just lived a little north to the Bird's Nest," said the youngest child in the family, who has three older sisters and a brother. "It was quite a comfortable house, about 260 sq m."
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