Photo by REUTERS/Paul Yeung. A six-floor vill on the construction site in the central business district of Shenzhen in April 2007. Choi Chu Cheung, the owner of the villa, and his wife Zhang Lian refused to accept the compensation offered by the developer.
Tao Weiren sits in front of his two-story house in Guangfuli neighbourhood in Shanghai in March 2016. On paper, the Guangfuli neighbourhood is a real estate investor's dream: a plot in the middle of one of the world's most expensive and fast-rising property markets. But the reality is more like a developer's nightmare, thanks to hundreds of people living there who have refused to budge from their ramshackle homes. Photo by REUTERS/Aly Song
A partially-demolished house at a construction site in Hefei, Anhui province in February 2, 2010. The owner of the house was attempting to seek more compensation before agreeing to the demolition of their home. The owner of the nail house reached an agreement with the local authorities and the house was demolished on February 9. Photo by REUTERS/Stringer
A nail house on the outskirts of Nanjing, Jiangsu province in October 2008. Again, the owners of insisted on more compensation before agreeing to demolition. Photo by REUTERS/Sean Yong
A labourer collects bricks in front of a nail house in the centre of a construction site which will be developed as a new apartment zone in Hefei. Photo by REUTERS/Jianan Yu
A nail house at a construction site which will be developed into a new apartment zone in Hefei, Anhui province in January 2008. The banner reads "strongly requesting the government to punish the developer who demolished my house, give back my home". Photo by REUTERS/Jianan Yu
A nail house remains in a construction site before in Guangzhou. This was taken January 8, 2008, just before the place was finally demolished. Photo by REUTERS/Joe Tan
An elderly couple refused to allow their house to be demolished, so it became the only building left in the middle of a road their village in Zhejiang province. The place was finally demolished in 2012. Photo by REUTERS/Aly Song