Chop for house in middle of highway

Excavators demolish the house of Luo Baogen in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling,...
Excavators demolish the house of Luo Baogen in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling, Zhejiang province, China. Photos: Reuters
The house stands in the roadway before the excavators move in.
The house stands in the roadway before the excavators move in.

An eastern China "nail house" that drew global media attention earlier this month for its eye-catching location in the midst of a roadway was demolished over the weekend, after the owner reversed himself and accepted compensation he had deemed unacceptable for more than a year prior.

"It was never a final solution for us to live in a lone house in the middle of the road," owner Luo Baogen told the Xinhua news agency. "After the government's explanations, I finally decided to move."

The Wenling city government will pay Luo 260,000 yuan ($US41,750 dollars) and give him a parcel of land for a new house, Xinhua said.

Before he signed the demolition agreement on Friday, Luo, a duck farmer, had always rejected that sum, arguing that he had spent 600,000 yuan on constructing the home more than 10 years ago.

About 90 per cent of online comments had backed what the official China Daily called Luo's "lone stand against the wrecking ball" from his five-storey partially demolished home in the middle of a highway.

Luo's property was the last building standing in a construction site near a railway station in the Zhejiang province city.

Supporters have rallied around owners of similar "nail houses" -- so called because they resemble a nail sticking out of plank of wood -- who refuse to give in to coercion by developers and local officials.

During the massive redevelopment of Chinese towns and cities in the last 25 years, many residents have accused developers of resorting to violence to evict people unwilling to move.

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