A Daguan Community resident speaks ahead of the March 18 forced demolition of the village by the New Taipei city government.
The News Lens
Date: 2019/03/15
By: Chenhuang Jinju, Translated by Brian Hioe
Credit: Chenhuang Jiuju
New Bloom editor Chenhuang Jinju interviewed Daguan Community resident Zhou Xiang-ping on March 9, 2019. Daguan Community residents currently face the forced demolition of their homes by the New Taipei city government on March 18. The following is a transcript of their interview.
Chenhuang Jinju: Could I ask you to first introduce yourself?
Zhou Xiang-ping: I’m Zhou Xiang-ping. I was born here. My family came here in Minguo 48 (1959). We lived here and did business. My mother sold red bean soup and our home has been here for 60 years.
CJ: Daguan Community is continually threatened with eviction. The government gave notice on March 6 that the community will be demolished on March 18? How are local residents reacting to this?
ZXP: Some people are looking for means of self-defense, since they’ve become panicky after receiving this notice. One view everyone seems to share is: “What should we do? Now what?” But we plan to continue meeting and to continue protesting.
Now some of our residents are looking for houses and desperately trying to fix them up to move over. But for me, my feelings are a bit more complicated. I was born here. My father’s things are all here. I don’t know where to move any of this. My father is longer with us, I spent a long time organizing his clothes yesterday. [FULL STORY]
