Lu Daren, a 48-year-old former demolition team leader and current professional consultant on anti-demolition issues in Beijing, says he feels he made an complete change in his career.

Lu, born in Shanxi province, used to lead a 30-person demolition team and was highly paid by developers for a dozen years.

In order to drive away stubborn property owners, he resorted to various coercion tactic of dubious legality, including faking "accidents" that harmed or scared the owners and throwing homemade dynamite.

"Demolition is kind of an 'art', which attracts certain people, most of them disreputable," Lu said. "After all, the longer the owners insist on not moving, the more financial losses developers suffer."

However, after years of witnessing the family strife his demolition team caused, Lu said he felt compelled to quit his lucrative job.

He then transformed himself into the kind of person he used to hate most - a stubborn "nail" (a Chinese term, often used in the context of demolition, for people who refuse to be hammered into place) - after seeing an advertisement for a "professional nail" on the Internet.

Lu, hired by a restaurant owner to fight against demolition and ask for compensation in December 2009, endured cold and loneliness in the power-cut-off restaurant for 20 days and finally won proper compensation for his employer.

Since then, Lu, branded as "nail household savior", has assisted more than 10 households in compensation claims by protecting the house to gain more time for negotiation.

Well-versed in all the means used by demolishers to wear down "nail house" resistance, Lu uses equally inventive countermeasures, including hurling Molotov cocktails and burying gas cylinders under the ground around the house.

Lu said he is most proud of his recently adopted "cage strategy", which involves installing an iron gate at the entrance of the house and locking himself in an iron cage inside the house, so that people can neither easily enter the house nor knock it down without injuring him.

According to Lu, the existence of nail households is inevitable given the current Property Law and Act of Demolition and Relocation, which fails to solve many practical problems.

He said the standard of compensation is not widely understood by the public and the huge profits to be made by governmental and collective expropriation of land prompts developers to conduct illegal deals in the name of the government.

Twelve years of work experience in house removal has given Lu deep insight into the industry, which he criticizes as ugly. "Everybody involved in the demolition industry is unhealthy," Lu said.

"For big companies who earn huge profits, destroying a house is no big deal. But in the eyes of individuals, the house means so much more. Often, when people lose their homes in such a manner, they suffer severe mental problems and they can't sleep or eat well," Lu said.

"Tragedies created by compulsory demolition will not end unless every citizen's personal rights are taken seriously. Otherwise, we will see more situations like Tang Fuzhen's," he said.

Seven months ago, Tang, a 48-year-old woman in Sichuan province, set herself on fire on her own balcony to stave off demolition of her three-story house in Chengdu. She died two weeks later.

Now Lu is trying to initiate formal house demolition hearing to fairly solve compensation issues. "Though my effort is not enough to change history, I can at least do something to help improve our law system," said Lu.

Lu is currently involved in a "nail" campaign for Zhuang, 48, an ex-serviceman-turned businessman from Shandong province who has had his business in Beijing relocated three times since 2003 and lost more than 20 million yuan due to lack of adequate compensation.

"Zhuang was rather unlucky. But his bad luck actually reveals a series of problems that must be handled, including unclear compensation standards, illegal dealings of powerful companies that the government turns a blind eye to and discrimination against businessman without Beijing hukou (permanent residency)," Lu said.

"I've been living on no income for almost a year and a half. Without Lu's mental and economic support, I would have been lost," Zhuang said.

"As long as the building is still there, the story has not come to an end. We have no choice but guard it like soldiers on a border," said Lu, clenching his fists.

Lu said China, as a fast growing economy, will continue to see more houses demolished. He said he hopes people in charge put themselves in the shoes of the affected.

China Daily