{"id":686715,"date":"2026-05-22T05:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/686715\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T05:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:59:09","slug":"chinese-authorities-destroy-villagers-ramshackle-10-storey-studio-ghibli-esque-home-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/686715\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese authorities destroy villager\u2019s ramshackle 10-storey Studio Ghibli-esque home | China"},"content":{"rendered":"

A ramshackle 10-storey home that had become an offbeat tourist attraction in south-western China<\/a> has been torn down, ending a years-long battle between the structure\u2019s owner and local authorities.<\/p>\n

Chen Tianming said local authorities took just hours to return the stone bungalow \u2013 which had been transformed into a pyramid-shaped structure of plywood rooms stacked upon one another \u2013 back down to its original single storey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel regret, because regret is useless,\u201d Chen told the AFP news agency. \u201cI also don\u2019t blame myself for failing to protect it \u2013 it\u2019s just that the force driving its destruction was simply too powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 43-year-old had spent about 200,000 yuan ($29,000) over eight years to convert his family home into an unlikely tourist attraction in the village of Xingyi in Guizhou province.<\/p>\n

Chen Tianming\u2019s home in south-west Guizhou province, in an image from 2025. Photograph: Pedro Pardo\/AFP<\/p>\n

Visiting tourists drew comparisons between Chen\u2019s home and the intricately detailed, whimsical worlds created by Japanese animator and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki.<\/p>\n

Authorities in Guizhou province have long threatened to remove the multi-storey structure that was held together by bamboo scaffolding, saying it lacked the necessary building permits and was a safety hazard.<\/p>\n

Chen\u2019s home village of Xingyi was mostly demolished in 2018, as authorities planned to build a tourist resort in the region known for its otherworldly mountain landscapes. Chen\u2019s family refused to leave, and as the resort\u2019s construction faltered he began building his home higher and higher in defiance of demolition threats by authorities.<\/p>\n

Chen Tianming in his house labelled China\u2019s strangest \u2018nail house\u2019 \u2013 households that refuse to move in the face of development plans. Photograph: Pedro Pardo\/AFP<\/p>\n

In August 2024, authorities labelled Chen\u2019s home an illegal construction and he was ordered to destroy everything except the original bungalow. On 18 May, Xingyi officials issued a final notice ordering Chen\u2019s family to leave by 9am on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

After the deadline local law enforcement and public security bureau officials escorted Chen and his parents away from his home and confiscated his phone, holding him in custody as his home was demolished.<\/p>\n

Chen, who filmed the aftermath showing piles of building materials scattered around where the towering structure once stood, told AFP that he is now seeking legal help to have the forced demolition designated illegal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I will have a chance to restore it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Yu-chen Li<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A ramshackle 10-storey home that had become an offbeat tourist attraction in south-western China has been torn down,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-686715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}