5 days ago
Is THIS the world's most stubborn homeowner? Man refuses to leave home as developer demolishes neighbours' houses... and builds 10 storey pyramid instead
A stubborn homeowner has defied property developers who demolished his neighbours' houses - by refusing to budge and building his own 10-storey tower.
Most of Chen Tianming's village in Guizhou province, southwestern China, was razed in 2018 to build a lucrative tourist resort.
But the 42-year-old refused to leave and, after the project faltered, ignored a flurry of demolition notices to build his family's humble stone bungalow higher and higher.
The higher floors where he sleeps sway in the wind and dozens of ropes and cables tether the house to the ground as if the whole thing might one day float away.
Built with faded ply-boards and contorted beams, the teetering structure is a monument to one man's stubbornness.
He now presides over a bewildering 10-storey, pyramid-shaped warren of rickety staircases, balconies and other add-ons, drawing comparisons in Chinese media to the fantastical creations of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
'I started building out of practicality, trying to renovate and expand our home,' Chen explained while climbing ladders and ducking wooden beams in his labyrinthine construction.
'But then it became more of an interest and hobby that I enjoyed,' he said.
'People often say it's unsafe and should be demolished... but I'll definitely never let anyone tear it down.'
Local authorities once had big plans to build an 800-acre tourist resort - including a theatre and artificial lake - in the region known for its spectacular rice paddies and otherworldly mountain landscapes.
They promised to compensate villagers but Chen's parents refused and he vowed to help them protect the home his grandfather had built in the 1980s.
While neighbours moved out and their houses were bulldozed, Chen stayed put, even sleeping alone in the house for two months 'in case [developers] came to knock it down in the night'.
Six months later, like many development projects in highly indebted Guizhou, the resort was cancelled.
Virtually alone among the ruined village, Chen was now master of a 'nail house' - a Chinese term for those whose owners dig in and refuse to relocate despite official compensation offers.
A quirk of China's rampant development and partial private property laws, nail houses sometimes make headlines for delaying money-spinning construction projects or forcing developers to divert roads or build around shabby older homes.
Even as Chen forged ahead, completing the fifth floor in 2019, the sixth in 2022 and the seventh in 2023, he continued to receive threats of demolition.
Last August, his home was designated an illegal construction, and he was ordered to destroy everything except the original bungalow within five days.
He said he has spent thousands of pounds fighting the notices in court, despite losing several preliminary hearings.
But he continues to appeal and the next hearing has been delayed.
'I'm not worried. Now that there's no one developing the land, there's no need for them to knock the place down,' he said.
In recent years, ironically, Chen's house has begun to lure a steady trickle of tourists itself.
On Chinese social media, users describe it as China's strangest nail house, likening it to the madcap buildings in Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli masterpieces 'Howl's Moving Castle' and 'Spirited Away'.
When dusk falls, Chen illuminates his home with decorative lanterns, and people gather on the nearby dirt road to admire the scene.
'It's beautiful,' local resident He Diezhen said, 'if there are no safety issues, it could become an [official] local landmark'.
Chen said the house makes many visitors remember their whimsical childhood fantasies.
'[People] dream of building a house for themselves with their own hands... but most can't make it happen,' he said.
'I not only thought of it, I made it a reality.'
