In a decision which appears to do nothing but highlight the wrongfulness of previous policies, the Supreme People's Court ruled yesterday that courts can turn down government requests to demolish housing if the compensation for residents is deemed unfair. more ›

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New Zealand's prime minister has denied China's request for extra compensation for Chinese families who lost children in the Christchurch earthquake. Chinese ambassador Xu Jiangguo had made repeated "indications" that the Chinese would like more money, citing the one-child policy and claiming Chinese families would suffer more from the loss of their only breadwinner. While no official request was actually submitted for more money, here's what New Zealand prime minster John Key had to say in response: more ›

Just in from Down Under. Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Xu Jianguo has said he's indicated "many times" to the New Zealand government to provide extra compensation to the parents of the seven Chinese students killed in the recent Christchurch earthquake on the basis that they have lost their sole offspring and future breadwinner because of the one-child policy. more ›

The 156 households that fell victim to the apartment building fire on November 15 will soon be allowed back into their homes to claim undamaged possessions and evaluate their losses. The companies held responsible for the fire will pay for valuation services, and once their losses have been calculated they may negotiate for compensation. At that point, if the families are still not satisfied, they may then then bring lawsuits. However, many say that property is not the issue. Some families who lost relatives in the fire have filed a petition for further investigations into the fire and have refused to accept compensation (960,000 RMB per victim) until the government responds accordingly. more ›

According to an interpretation of Chinese tort law on the Wall Street Journal, yes. The reason is the way for determining compensation, which sets one-time payments for accidental death at 20 times the local average yearly income. That means that those who live in Shanghai (which earn on average 28,838RMB a year) - like the Shanghai fire victims - automatically get more money than those working in mines in Hubei or anywhere else in China. Of course, China's not the only place where richer people tend to receive more in tragedies: compensation to 9/11 victims was doled out with the same emphasis on annual income - and it was incredibly controversial at that time too. The lawyer in charge of the 9/11 Fund, Ken Feinberg, says something that hopefully sums up anything related to the thorny issue of money for death: "There is not one family member I've met who wouldn't gladly give back the check, or, in many cases, their own lives to have that loved one back. 'Happy' never enters into this equation." more ›

As we expected, a fuller version of the compensation details for those affected by the apartment building fire on Jiaozhou Lu were released this morning. While they are more detailed than the short announcement from last night, there are still some questions to be answered. more ›

According to the Shanghai Daily twitter, not only have all 58 victims now been identified (except for one, which has tentatively been suspected to be a Japanese citizen), the compensation scheme has also been announced: Each family of someone who died in the Nov. 15 blaze will receive 960,000RMB ($144, 578 USD), including 650,000RMB because the victim died. It was unclear whether a victim had to have died in order for the family to receive compensation, and what type would be doled out for those who only sustained injuries. We're sure it'll be made clear tomorrow. In other news, the government has decided to denote Nov. 15 as "Urban Public Safety Day," "so that the bitter lessons learned from the tragedy would never be forgotten." more ›

Yeah, it's sad but true: in order to build Disneyland Shanghai, a lot of villagers in Chuangsha will have to be forcibly relocated in order to free up space for the 4.12 square kilometer theme park. Like usual, the government has promised to provide those relocated with monetary compensation, but hasn't revealed exactly how much they'll give out. As a result, farmers have begun to erect new buildings overnight to try to drive up the value of their land. One part entrepreneurial, one part sad: but with the government notoriously bad at providing displaced people with fair settlements, who can blame them? more ›