Early Wednesday, about a dozen people from the local law enforcement and public security bureaus arrived at Chen’s home, he said, before they escorted him and his parents away and confiscated his phone.
Chen said he saw dozens more people around his house as he was taken to a local government office, where he was kept until late in the evening.
LEGAL BATTLE
Authorities razed most of Chen’s home village of Xingyi, in Guizhou province, in 2018.
Their goal was to build a lucrative tourist resort in a region known for its spectacular rice paddies and otherworldly mountain landscapes.
Chen refused to leave, and after the tourism project faltered, he continued to build his family’s bungalow higher and higher.
But even as he forged ahead, completing the fifth floor in 2019, the sixth in 2022 and the seventh in 2023, he constantly battled threats of demolition.
In August 2024, his home was labelled an illegal construction, and he was ordered to destroy everything except the original bungalow within five days.
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