Squatter’s Rights

By Steve George, August 6, 2013

The most reliable indicator of Beijing summertime – Sanlitun’s large, green, obstructive tent, referred to locally as the ‘bar-ricade’ (get it?) – has returned to Bar Street much to the annoyance of local revelers, drunks and assorted pirate DVD merchants.

The inexplicable annual arrival – a sort of cheerless migrant worker jamboree, described variously as part-fortified military encampment, part-impromptu urban festival – has become a bewildering mainstay of Sanlitun’s summer months, first arriving as far back as June 2011.

Conspiracy theories concerning the tent abound, the most prominent being that the so-called squatter camp is a neat ploy by the local authorities to prevent drink-sodden hoards of foreign savages congregating en masse throughout the summer.

With this in mind, we knocked on the door of the tent to ask: ‘What’s up?’ Perhaps unsurprisingly, the six men (all from Shandong) we found living inside the tent’s cramped conditions seemed equally confused as to why they’re being housed in the middle of the city’s most unruly bar street. “It’s chaotic,” said one. “But you get used to it,” added another optimistically.

Just to be doubly sure, we popped in again a few days later, only to find the tent newly furnished with two refrigerators, a standing fan and a bicycle parked inside: yes, these brave hardy souls are in it for the long haul.

An official notice posted on the wall of the encampment reads:

“Due to issues in the heating pipes, and to guarantee residents heating this winter for those living in the district, we are commencing construction. Apologies for any inconvenience caused, thank you for understanding. May 30, 2013." (See photo below).

May 30? That’s two months ago! When asked how many more days they would need to finish construction, one worker replied, “Two more months…at least!” Another replied: “20 days, tops.” Classic.

Business owners in the area are noticeably unhappy. “It makes everything slower…of course our business has been affected,” one DVD shop owner relayed. Another local bar manager commented: “At this point, it’s like they’ve done it on purpose.”

But have they?

As the workers explained, the encampment’s lopsided placement is intended to ensure that one side is wide enough for passers-by, while the other side accommodates the width of a tricycle (it doesn’t).

Interestingly, the tent’s living quarters only account for about one third of the total space occupied by the encampment; the rest is used for “scraps” (or so we’re told). Luckily for us, the site has expanded yet again with the arrival of an additional pile of pipes, just in case we weren’t already running out of space.

But wait! Before you write us off as Bar Street aficionados, whining about how difficult it is to stumble drunk through Sanlitun (life is so hard sometimes)—it’s not only the alcohol-swigging pedestrians that are displeased. The workers themselves have no idea why they’re being forced to live there. “There are no bathrooms and no showers, so we have to go into the commercial areas [Sanlitun Village] for that. I haven’t taken a real shower in about two months,” explained one understandably despondent middle-aged worker.

Even worse are the nights, my God – the nights! “So many people try to get in the tent, they pound on the doors as they walk past and climb on the fence. It was hard to sleep the first few months. It gets very, very rowdy. There are quite a few fights, glasses breaking, drug deals – lots of screaming and wailing. But you deal with it. It’s part of the job. You go where the job is. This is where my job is,” explained another.

The construction job itself, however, is not actually on Bar Street – with work currently taking place nearer to Xindong lu. Making the local authorities choice of camp site rather questionable.

One worker concludes: “We’re basically locked in a cage here in the middle of this bar street.” As if to illustrate this point, the worker then gestures towards a giant padlock swinging from the door.

So, it’s a lose-lose. We asked nearby vendors and residents if they really did experience problems with their heating, and the answer is yes, and most of them are happy to know it’s being fixed for the winter… or at the very least, look like it’s being fixed.

But what about last year, and the year before that? According to the workers, the construction circus pulled into town last summer (and the summer before) to fix the local sewage pipes – prior to that, it had gotten so bad, that sewage water flooded the shops on bar street, with vendors wading through who knows what (fortunately, 2010 was a World Cup year, and most people were too drunk to notice).

Conclusion: The reasoning sounds pretty legit (even if the campsite's location doesn't). Sanlitun is old, its pipes are old – some of them will inevitably need changing from time to time. So, meanwhile, it looks as if denizens of Bar Street are just going to have to deal with it through to the end of August. Or maybe September. And probably next year too…