Threatened China household stares down wrecking ball

By Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - Days away from being forcibly evicted, a Beijing family is praying to Buddha and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for help, but they know their stand in the face of the city's Olympic development is all but futile.

The plight of the Yu family is the latest in a string of disputes between developers and residents that illustrates just one of the tensions wrought by China's rapid modernisation.

"We don't know what to do," said Yu Pingju, 40, as she stood at the kiosk selling nuts and dried fruit that is her family's business and that fronts their small home.

"We're extremely worried. We can't eat and we don't sleep at night. We're physically and mentally exhausted. But what can we do? This is our home."

Shops like theirs used to line the tree-lined Beijing street offering views of the sloped eaves of the Forbidden City. Nearby is the old courtyard house of late leader Deng Xiaoping, whose daughter they say occasionally stops by to pick up some snacks.

But most have long since been demolished in favour of broad paths of grass and flowers that are part of the city's efforts to reinvent itself ahead of the Olympics, which open on August 8.

The Yus were warned that if they did not leave by June 26 they would be forcibly evicted. They say the local authorities have yet to show them a permit.

And their extended family of 14, who range in age from four to 71, don't know where else to go.