Fantastic photo essay by Alan Taylor for The Atlantic:

Across China, where new developments are keeping pace with the rapidly growing economy, reports continue to surface so-called “nail houses”. These properties, standing alone amid the ruins of other buildings, belong to owners who have stood their ground and resisted demolition. Defiant property owners say the compensation being offered is too low. Some of them have remained in their homes for years as their court cases drag on and new construction continues all around them. A few homeowners have won their fights, but most have lost. Meanwhile, these nail houses have become powerful symbols of resistance against the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

It’s unreal, but this is how far people are willing to go to protect their homes.