Wuhan Nail House Owner Fights Forced Demolition with Home-Made Cannon

A recent post about one really tough nail house has been going around on internet. It was popular enough to warrant an article on Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao (明报).

Here is what the original forum post said:

Translation: 武汉超牛钉子户自制火炮对抗拆迁（原创猛图）

The high profile Chongqing nail house looks like nothing compared to this. Here is one super guy I met when visiting a classmate in Dongxihu District (东西湖).

I spent an afternoon locating the farmer whose name is Yang Youde (杨有德).

Some background: Mr. Yang has a house and a vegetable patch near Jinyinhu part of Dongxihu District, where some developer wanted to start a project a few months earlier. However, before the two sides could agree on compensation, the developer hired security guards to tear down Yang's house. In this one vs. many fight, Yang was at a distinct disadvantage. Each time he called the police, the officers only urged both sides to refrain from violence but failed to solve the problem.

Yang was mad after seeing his buildings being torn down little by little, so he built a "cannon cart" using super-sized firecrackers and a hand trolley.


The homemade cannon was astonishing. The first time it was used, chaos broke out among the guards. But because only one shot can be fired at a time, Yang still got beat up. Luckily the police arrived and pulled the guards away. Yang then thought up another idea. This time he built a blockhouse on top of his house.



A wiser Yang improved upon the original design by constructing his rocket launcher out of iron sleeve and fireworks. He stockpiled ammunition in the blockhouse.


Yang owns a dog that barks whenever the demolition personnel approached, and Yang fired his cannon whenever these people came within range.

Because the projectiles are made from fireworks, they won't kill anybody, but they can definitely cause damage. Yang successfully fought off several waves of demolition squads.

Yang also has a backup plan for anyone who dodged the projectiles: Beer bottles tied onto giant firecrackers (now this is a bit much)

Yang said that he is only doing this out of desperation. Regardless of what happens, he will defend his rights till the end.

Old Lady Goes Undercover as Garbage Collector to Investigate Illegal Cybercafés

I thought the elder deserves an award for accomplishing "what the Administration for Industry and Commerce has always failed (or is unwilling) to do."

Translation: 七旬老太扮破烂王暗查黑网吧 绘王八地图送工商

The map

Around 9AM on April 28, an old woman came to the office of Li Fuxiang (李福湘), director of Hebi Administration for Industry and Commerce.

The 72 year old elder's surname is Huang. She left home village 10 year ago to be with her only daughter in Hebi (鹤壁). Because both daughter and son-in-law regularly conduct business in Anyang (安阳), Mrs. Huang and her husband are in charge of caring for the 11 year old grandson Xiaohui (alias) while the couple is away. Xiaohui used to be an excellent student.

Things became strange around middle of March. Xiaohui started to return home late, and his pockets were filled with "rigid cards." When questioned, the normally well-behaved child appeared impatient and even swore. On March 18th, Mrs. Huang learned from the teachers that her grandson lately was often absent-minded in class.

What happened? The old lady felt very perplexed.


Old Mr. Huang has trouble walking due to his leg disability. Old Mrs. Huang decided to do some investigation alone.

On the afternoon of March 19th, Mrs. Huang surreptitiously followed Xiaohui who had just left school. He and two classmates went to an unmarked store instead of taking the usual route home. Mrs Huang was stopped at the door and could not go in. She then questioned her grandson's buddies, but the children were tight-lipped. After a week of persistent stalking, she was shocked to find out that Xiaohui had become addicted to internet gaming under classmates' influence. Mrs. Huang felt awful but knew that without concrete evidence the government would not interfere. She decided to gather direct evidence.

She learned from neighbors that legitimate cybercafés do not entertain children customers. Only illegal cybercafés let them in. The elder now had a special mission: guard the route that the children must take, and secretly follow them until she finds the "target." A few trips later she found the destinations but was not allowed to enter. Thus she had no specific proof that these were illegal.

On one such trip, an empty beverage bottle inspired Mrs. Huang. Starting from end of March, she began walking the streets with a plastic bag half-filled with empty bottles. Unlike other garbage collectors, she specifically asked for and lingered around places that had cybercafés. Under the pretext of garbage collection, she was able to go in any suspicious buildings and verify the nature of the equipment inside.

To mark these targets, the illiterate old lady uses her grandson's red crayon to draw little turtles on the walls outside, because little turtle (小王八, note it is also used as a cuss word in China) is an homonym to cybercafé (网吧). After several phone conversations with her daughter, Mrs. Huang ascertained that 6 of the 16 marked buildings were illicit.

The elder said that these illegal cybercafés are typically hidden. Some pretend to be something else, some are housed in private domiciles, and some lack any disguises.


Mrs. Huang's daughter told the reporter that because she is illiterate, the old lady had to draw the "fruits" of her labor, so that these sites can be easily sought out in the future. This map is the one and only artwork that she has ever completed.

In this map, the reporter saw that all illegal cybercafés are denoted by turtles, of which there are 6. The street names and landmark buildings are also represented by symbols and icons. To show Xinghe Avenue, she drew a 5 point star (wujiaoxing), a river (he), and a street. Mount Song Street is shown as a pine (songshu) bonsai, the profile of a mountain, and a house. The produce market is displayed as chilies and carrots.


Around 4:30 PM on April 28th, the reporter observed law enforcement personnel from the Qibing branch of Hebi Administration for Industry and Commerce in action. Under direct deployment orders from Li Fuxiang, 12 officers organized themselves into 3 teams and searched the internet cafés identified by Mrs. Huang's map.

3 hours later, the officers seized more than 80 computers and issued notices of deadline to receive punishment. The facilities were temporarily confiscated.

Li Guang, director of Qibin branch, expressed the administration's appreciation for Mrs. Huang's magnanimous action. They will deal with the café owners according to law, further purify the internet market, and with diligent effort provide a safer and healthier environment to the children.

Creative Kiss Challenge on Streets of Xi'an

Translation: 组图：西安男女街头创意接吻大挑战

One Xi'an merchant hosted a Creative Kiss Challenge on May 29, 2010. More than 10 pairs of young people competed for the 888 yuan cash prize by publicly engaging in long and enthusiastic kisses. There were also some on-spot pairings between stranger men and women. The spectacle drew surprised exclamations from the crowd. The participants all said that the results do not matter; what they enjoy is the process.

Most Popular Comments:

淡青 from Ganzhou, Jiangxi 2010-05-30 04:32:25
Their heads are filled with shit.
One day there might even be a creative love-making contest. Truly preposterous...

ㄣ新Оo生ゞ from Guangzhou, Guangdong 2010-05-30 04:08:25
Why do I feel people are becoming more perverted? Those who agree vote for my comment.

阿木
I am finally starting to believe that China has 0.1 billion crazies.

Just丶旋律゛ from Kaifeng, Henan
Is that boy-girl or boy-boy pairing in the third photo?

顺心 from Ulaan Chab, Inner Mongolia
Livestock only mate when they are in heat. These are worse than livestock! What a disgrace.

80后dê緈諨 from Ezhou, Hubei
Let's do a masturbation session tomorrow.

自由人 from Beijing 2010-05-30 19:13:02
For a cultural province like Shanxi to hold this contest, first the merchant is retarded and second the participants' parents forgot to teach their kids. What loss of face, children.

As someone who is from Shanxi, I am ashamed.

我爱你，单县 from Heze, Shandong 2010-05-30 04:31:01
I would just do with this my wife at home.

打死也不说 2010-05-30 05:38:39
Their mouth stink from all the kissing. Gross!

落雨郁郁 from Nanning, Guangxi 2010-05-30 04:31:16
2012 is almost here! Kiss away while you still can