Residents moving into unfinished apartment blocks is rare in China, but not unheard of.
For the residents of Jinling Apartment, life in the building has been inconvenient, but tolerable. Many of them grew up in poverty, and are used to coping with poor living conditions.
“Tough? We’re all people who have experienced bitterness,” says Song. “This house is much better than the village house (I was renting before). I was afraid the village house was on the verge of collapse.”
The Jiang clique of officials certainly is, but I recall something about the Shanghai local cadres still retaining some Neo-Maoist tendencies left over from the Gang of Four days.
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