logo
Chinese man defies demolition orders to build madcap rural home

Chinese man defies demolition orders to build madcap rural home

Daily Tribune2 days ago

Surrounded by the rubble of demolished homes, Chen Tianming's ramshackle tower of faded plyboards and contorted beams juts into the sky in southwestern China, a teetering monument to one man's stubbornness.
Authorities razed most of Chen's village in Guizhou province in 2018 to build a lucrative tourist resort in a region known for its spectacular rice paddies and otherworldly mountain landscapes.
Chen, 42, refused to leave, and after the project faltered, defied a flurry of demolition notices to build his family's humble stone bungalow higher and higher.
He now presides over a bewildering 10-storey, pyramid-shaped warren of rickety staircases, balconies and other add-ons, drawing comparisons in Chinese media to the fantastical creations of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
'I started building out of practicality, trying to renovate and expand our home,' Chen told AFP on a sweltering May afternoon as he climbed ladders and ducked wooden beams in his labyrinthine construction.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump travel ban in effect Blocks citizens from 12 nations
Trump travel ban in effect Blocks citizens from 12 nations

Daily Tribune

time17 hours ago

  • Daily Tribune

Trump travel ban in effect Blocks citizens from 12 nations

President Donald Trump's sweeping new travel ban came into effect early yesterday immediately after midnight, barring citizens from a dozen nations from entering the United States and reviving a divisive measure from his first term. The move is expected to disrupt refugee pathways and further restrict immigration as the Trump administration expands its crackdown on illegal entries. Many of the nations covered by the restrictions have adversarial relations with the United States, such as Iran and Afghanistan, while others face severe crises, like Haiti and Libya. In announcing his restrictions last week, Trump said the new measure was spurred by a recent 'terrorist attack' on Jews in Colorado. The group had been protesting in solidarity with hostages held in Gaza when they were assaulted by a man the White House said had overstayed his visa. That attack, Trump said, 'underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted' or who overstay their visas. The move bans all travel to the United States by nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, according to the White House. Trump also imposed a partial ban on travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Some temporary work visas from those countries will be allowed. New countries could be added, Trump warned, 'as threats emerge around the world.' Mehria, a 23-year-old woman from Afghanistan who applied for refugee status, sa d the new rules have trapped her and many other Afghans in uncertainty. 'We gave up thousands of hopes and our entire lives... on a promise from America, but today we are suffering one hell after another,' she told AFP. World Cup, Olympics, diplomats excluded The ban will not apply to athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, or in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Trump's order said. Nor will it apply to diplomats from the targeted countries. United Nations rights chief Volker Turk warned that 'the broad and sweeping nature of the new travel ban raises concerns from the perspective of international law.' US Democratic lawmakers and elected officials blasted the ban as draconian and unconstitutional. 'I know the pain that Trump's cruel and xenophobic travel bans inflict because my family has felt it firsthand,' congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, who is Iranian-American, posted Sunday on X. 'We will fight this ban with everything we have.' Rumors of a new travel ban had circulated following the Colorado attack, with Trump's administration vowing to pursue 'terrorists' living in the United States on visas. US officials said suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national according to court documents, was in the country illegally having overstayed a tourist visa, but that he had applied for asylum in September 2022. Trump's new travel ban notably does not include Egypt. His proclamation said Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and wartorn Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen lacked 'competent' central authorities for processing passports and vetting. Iran was included because it is a 'state sponsor of terrorism,' the order said. For the other countries, Trump's order cited an above-average likelihood that people would overstay their visas.

Chinese man defies demolition orders to build madcap rural home
Chinese man defies demolition orders to build madcap rural home

Daily Tribune

time2 days ago

  • Daily Tribune

Chinese man defies demolition orders to build madcap rural home

Surrounded by the rubble of demolished homes, Chen Tianming's ramshackle tower of faded plyboards and contorted beams juts into the sky in southwestern China, a teetering monument to one man's stubbornness. Authorities razed most of Chen's village in Guizhou province in 2018 to build a lucrative tourist resort in a region known for its spectacular rice paddies and otherworldly mountain landscapes. Chen, 42, refused to leave, and after the project faltered, defied a flurry of demolition notices to build his family's humble stone bungalow higher and higher. He now presides over a bewildering 10-storey, pyramid-shaped warren of rickety staircases, balconies and other add-ons, drawing comparisons in Chinese media to the fantastical creations of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. 'I started building out of practicality, trying to renovate and expand our home,' Chen told AFP on a sweltering May afternoon as he climbed ladders and ducked wooden beams in his labyrinthine construction.

AI, drones, cameras to keep hajj pilgrims safe
AI, drones, cameras to keep hajj pilgrims safe

Daily Tribune

time6 days ago

  • Daily Tribune

AI, drones, cameras to keep hajj pilgrims safe

AFP | Mecca Working day and night in front of maps, screens and seemingly endless data, Saudi officials have harnessed artificial intelligence to help manage the million-strong sea of pilgrims during the hajj. The technology has proven pivotal to track the overwhelming amount of footage from more than 15,000 cameras in and around the holy city of Mecca. The systems are tuned to spot abnormal crowd movements or predict bottlenecks in foot traffic -- a potential life-saver at a packed event with a history of deadly stampedes. Software is also used to help guide more than 20,000 buses deployed to transport pilgrims between holy sites during one of the world's biggest annual religious gatherings. It is all part of the tech arsenal that Saudi Arabia is deploying as 1.4 million faithful from across the globe descend on Mecca and its surrounds. 'In our traffic control room, we use specialised cameras that have AI layers to analyse movements, crowded areas' and predict behaviours, said Mohamed Nazier, chief executive officer for the General Transport Centre at the Royal Commission for Mecca. The centre has a main control room in Mecca filled with screens and maps, where staff use high-tech tools including AI for round-the-clock monitoring. About a dozen staff members sit in rows before desktop computers with a large display at the front, zooming in on crowd movements around the holy sites. On hillsides nearby, cameras that resemble little white robots film buildings, roads and pathways along the hajj route, which winds more than 20 kilometres (12 miles) between Mecca and Mount Arafat. Nazier said the constant monitoring is aimed at averting traffic collisions with pedestrians on crowded routes while also making sure there are buses available to minimise walking time in the desert heat. 'Our eye on the ground' With its cutting-edge technology, 'the control room is our eye on the ground,' said Mohammed al-Qarni, who oversees the hajj and the year round umrah pilgrimage at the transport centre. Artificial intelligence helps to determine 'the flow on the (roads to the holy sites), and detects emergency situations even before they occur', he told AFP, adding that the technology can help assess the number of people in a single place. Cameras and AI can estimate if a site has reached maximum capacity, allowing authorities to divert the flow of pilgrims, Qarni said. During the holy month of Ramadan this year, the system spotted when the Grand Mosque had reached full capacity. 'The flow to the Haram (Grand Mosque) was stopped and the process cont rolled,' he said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store