The art has given Songzhuang more fame and increased housing costs
By He Jianwei
Twelve artists in Songzhuang, Tongzhou District, have been sued over a housing dispute between them and the villagers since October. The first case was announced and the artist lost on July 10.
After hearing the court’s decision, the other artists began to worry about their own future. They have brought attention to Songzhuang, but what will Sonzhuang bring to the artists?
Taking a one-hour bus trip from downtown, I arrived at the Xiaopu Village, where several of the prosecuted artists discussed the latest lawsuit in a studio on Wednesday.
In the Painters’ Cortyard, I met Li Yulan, who lost the first case. According to the judgment, the contract between Li and the accuser is invalid, and Li will get a compensation of 93,808 yuan for moving out of the house. She has decided to appeal the sentence and will present the petition to the court before next Wednesday.
As well as Li Yulan, the other eleven artists in Songzhuang have been targeted for the purchase of houses based on rural housing land since last October.
The sellers alleged the contracts of the housing purchase they signed with the artists several years ago are invalid, because under Chinese laws and regulations the transition of the rural housing land has strict limits: rural housing land could only be used for building the house, and its transition is permitted among the villagers in the same village.
