Toilets, minibus, cement pipes, stairwell, cages as houses: Guess the race
http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pict...-chinese-coping-with-high-housing-prices.html
[Above] A post-80s generation pretty girl lives in her company’s lavatory because housing prices are too high for her to afford buying.
Following the example of “land barons” that keep appearing one after another, even though many people keep pushing for lower property values, the cost of housing continues swell abruptly. Under the financial crisis, finding employment is already so difficult without having to bring up the issue of buying a house; what are recent university graduates to do? In July 2009, this girl transformed this bathroom into her own “snail house”; within this room of not even 10 square meters she lives a life that is free and easy, with the key point being that it doesn’t cost money.
[Above] New edition “snail house”: Discarded minibus turned staff dormitory
In July 2010 at Chaotianmen in Yuchong district of central Chongqing there have appeared “house car people”—by having the seats removed with a bed in their place and an installed air-conditioner, this discarded minivan has suddenly changed its identity into a staff dormitory. If examined closely, [we see that] this minibus can immediately change. The minibus’ original chairs have already been dismantled and exchanged a single person bed with a quilt on top, and at the head of the bed is an electric fan whirling away. Insider the van is cooling ointment and medicinal water to reduce the effect of the summer heat as well as a few toiletries for daily use. The “owner”, a Mr. Diao, is an attendant for the Donghewan neighborhood temporary parking lot, and this modified minivan is the dormitory for him and his coworker.
[Above] The most niu, smallest, functional apartment made out of a staircase
November 20, 2008, one “Definitely the most incredible mini apartment on Tianya” post became popular on the internet. Apparently, in Shenzhen where land is expensive, a landlord actually used an unused stairwell to construct a fully functional mini apartment, and was named by netizens as history’s most niu, smallest, functional apartment with many netizens claiming to have been “shocked/stupefied“. The mini apartment is made out of an unused stairwell in a high-rise, with the apartment’s entrance on the second and third floor staircase. The passageway is approximately 1.5 meters wide, with many things placed on the steps and a computer desk and single bed placed at the corners of the stairwell. The entire place is narrow, but decorated to be rather cozy/comfortable.
[Above] This snail house resident inhabits an abandoned cement pipe
Located on the south side of East Nigang Road and outside an enclosure on the north side of Honghu public park is a home that can be called Shenzhen province’s most niu “snail house”. The resident of this snail house says he is from Shangxiu city in Henan province and has left his family a few years ago for work. Not long ago he had worked for a nearby distribution company, but most recently because he felt so fatigued he was not able to work and make money and so abruptly quit his job and moved out from the distribution company’s collective dormitory. He points at a section of unused water pipe behind him covered with a blanket and says “Living here is quiet, no one to disturb you.” He says that this year he is more than 40-years-old, has a driver’s license and knows how to drive a car, and has a wife and two children back home [where he's from]. The two children has since grown up, so he doesn’t have much pressure being away [since he does not need to support the children anymore]. When the topic of living in a “snail house” is raised, he says you shouldn’t look at it as just a water pipe, that living inside isn’t to suffer, light a stick of mosquito-repellent incense at night, [and one can] sleep very peacefully all the same. “A while ago the weather was very cold, but living inside the water pipe, covering both ends with blankets, it isn’t cold at all.”
[Above] “Cage rooms” where rent is more expensive than seaside luxury residences
Hong Kong’s population is dense, so many old, infirm, and poor people reside in the beds of densely populated old buildings, each enclosed by wire netting, crammed within what is commonly known as “cage rooms”. Hong Kong’s cage rooms, also known as bed dwellings, refer to units that have 12 or more tenants, all sharing a kitchen and bathroom. Amongst cage room residents, the elderly are indeed a very typical demographic and as a result of living alone, poor living conditions, and suffering from health problems, the suicide rate for Hong Kong’s elderly is consistently high. In Hong Kong where a little land costs a lot of money, the poor who want to find a stable and secure place of their own are truly beset with difficulties. In the grand mansion “Harbor View Peak” [Gangjingfeng] in Tsim Sha Tsui, each square foot rents for 33 HKD; whereas the rent for a lower bunk in a cage room in Kwun Tong costs 41 HKD.
