A Chinese man regrets turning down a $220,000 offer to relocate now that a highway surrounds his home.
A grandfather’s defiance became a symbol of resistance to the rapid road projects of an urbanizing China. Offered a hefty sum of $220,000 to leave his beloved home, Huang Ping refused to sell his property. Now, the elderly homeowner regrets his decision as highway traffic surrounds his home and his only access to the outside world is a concrete pipe.
Huang Ping refused to take a $220,000 offer to sell his home– now his house is accessible through a pipe under a highway
China has built around 75,000 miles of new highway roads in the last 15 years, making it one of the most rapidly expanding networks in the world. As a result, homeowners and communities have had to make the tough decision to move to facilitate the country’s appetite for highway network expansion.
However, a cash offer wasn’t enough to sway the opinions of one grandfather in Jinxi. Huang Ping received an offer of $220,000 to move and abandon his home in Jinxi, China. However, Huang turned down the offer, instead choosing to stay in the path of a growing highway project.
In an almost petty maneuver, the developers pushed the project around Huang’s home. Not around like swooping off to one side. No, ‘around’ means surrounding his home, enveloping it in a tall concrete wall, and sending lanes of traffic off to either side of the home. After the project moved on from Huang’s home, his only way in and out of the property was through a concrete tube under the road.
Collin Rugg’s Instagram account featured an aerial view of the spiteful building project. “If I could turn back time, I would agree to the demolition conditions they offered. Now it feels like I lost a big bet. I regret it a bit,” he told interviewers about the decision.
It has the appearance of a highway project with the specific intent of protecting a historical structure. However, it’s not the birthplace of some literary icon or war hero. Instead, it’s the home of a person who refused to relent. Unfortunately, the reward for his persistence was a surrounding landscape of concrete and steel.
