Property disputes demolish family values

• Source: Global Times
• [00:55 January 25 2010]
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By Chen Chenchen

The Chinese poet Li Bai (701-762) might be turning in his grave at the farce being enacted by his descendents some 1,200 years after his death.

About 100 years ago, one of Li's descendents, the richest man in Xiaguan area of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, bought a big house that is now facing demolition. How to distribute the compensation for demolition is a big issue for more than 70 of his heirs. A great-granddaughter of the wealthy man's fifth son considered herself the legal heiress and sued other potential claimants.

Then began a new drama. The judge summoned these gray-haired potential heirs based on their extensive family tree Friday. Many of these old people had never seen one another. They sat together to learn their family history, and then started haggling endlessly over how the compensation should be apportioned. No agreement is in sight yet.

It's a conflict that goes beyond individuals and their claims, for it is a conflict between kinship ethics and housing property in contemporary China. In TV programs and newspaper reports, we come across numerous instances of brothers falling apart over property division; of mother and son fighting over property transfer rights; or girl cheating to grab her grandpa's house. All such stories are about the tragic demise of kinship ethics when confronted by claims over a disputed housing property.

Alongside with China's urbanization, house has replaced land as assurance of a lifeline and a source of security. In the case of Li's descendents, most branches of the family had moved out literally ages ago and lived in peace without the property. Now, those elderly relatives, with an eye on the property to be divided, are locked in a confrontation. It fell to the women judge to remind them that family ties are more valuable than the house.