The Hired Protester: a sticky China meme

My grandmother Virginia Swanberg is a prolific reader and article clipper.  The other day, when I took her out for lunch in San Francisco’s Mission District, she presented me with a cut-out of this article by Cara Anna of the Associated Press:  Hired protestor fights to save restaurant from demolition (this headline appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle.)

Wanted: One live-in protester, $146 a month, no days off.

When the managers of a Beijing restaurant marked for demolition were too busy to fight it, they posted an Internet ad and hired a stranger to stay there around the clock. The job seems to be a first for China, where frenzied urban construction has led to violent evictions, protests and even suicide.

Huddled on a makeshift bed in the trash-strewn, freezing restaurant, Lu Daren said he once worked for a demolition crew and understands their tactics.

“I’m tired,” the 46-year-old said Thursday, after a long night of fending off the latest visit from what he suspects were hired thugs by the landlord. “Tired, tired, tired.” He stays — wrapped in blankets, reading the newspaper or writing idle poetry, occasionally taking short walks— because he thinks the restaurateurs have been treated unfairly. [more]

I’m sharing this story because I think it showcases several memes about China:

• Omnipotent government-backed builders kicking out hard-working tenants.
• David vs. Goliath
• Social inequality in China: the idea that people can be hired to do all sorts of dirty work, for a tiny-by-American-standards price.
• Americans’ fascination with dissent in a Communist country

This story definitely qualifies as “sticky” in the words of Made to Stick authors Dan Heath and Chip Heath.  [Side note: that's an excellent book!]

Today I read an update on the same story from the New York Times, from which I copied the above photo.  The story has a happy ending, and the property developers will pay a settlement to Ms. Qin Rong, the restaurant’s owner:

Whether it was superstition or an old-fashioned victory of good over evil, the battle over the Fish Castle Restaurant ended in Ms. Qin’s favor. On Monday, she received a call from the developers, New Olympic Development, saying they hoped to strike a deal. Lawyers were summoned, papers were signed, full payment was guaranteed, and by Tuesday evening, the Fish Castle defenders had gathered up their blankets and abandoned their posts. [more]

Congratulations to everyone involved, for telling a sticky story that gives a human face to modernizing China.  I hope the settlement works out as described.