The Remin University literature professor and renowned (and usually banned in China) author realised he had found the place he wanted to live and that it would inspire his next novel.
But what happened next was like something out of one of his searing novels detailing the human cost of China's development. The government is planning to knock down his house and offer him only about one-third of its value in compensation. The two-storey, freestanding homes of two neighbours are already piles of rubble,Polycore oil paintings for sale are manufactured as a single sheet, and Yan's dream house lies deserted, desecrated by vandals.
It had started so well. The developer was keen to attract a few well-known names to his project, which consisted of scores of houses, each with their own gardens as well as access to hectares of bushland including two lakes. The sprawling estate is something of an oddity in the hectic Chinese capital, whose population is well over 20 million.
Because of his status, Yan admits he was offered the home at a decent discount. In August 2008 he moved in and quickly became inspired to write his next novel. Yan's move to a bucolic setting influenced and even touched him: a country boy at heart, he was back among nature, where he thought he might belong.
His latest book was to be something different from his increasingly furious satires about the Chinese system and its relentless, often dehumanising policy of development at all costs -- particularly the human cost. His most recent published novel Four Books (Si Shu) has yet to be translated into English (it's due next year) but it explains the effects of China's Great Famine of 1958-1961 in which as many 40 million died as hundreds of millions of farmers melted down their metal -- including farm tools at the expense of their harvests -- on the orders of leader Mao Zedong. It's a topic that,ceramic magic cube for the medical, decades after the tragedy, remains sensitive with the country's communist leaders, as the party continues to struggle with the murderous legacy of Mao, whose giant portrait still dominates Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing.
"My inspiration for my latest book was Walden, or Life the Woods by Henry Thoreau,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems," Yan tells The Australian as he drives us from a local coffee shop, off a busy arterial road and into beautiful wooded area bathed in late autumn hues. Like Thoreau, who describes two years building and living in a cabin, Yan is inspired by his house in the woods, albeit on the edge of the city.
The as-yet-untitled book -- which is nearly finished -- is about how man fits in with the natural environment.
A year after Yan moved in and started to write, taking daily walks through his woodland haven, rumours began circulating among neighbours that a road was to be built through the middle of the compound.
"It was just like something from one of my novels," Yan says. "No one would believe it. Then in May this year the news became official, causing sudden confusion among everyone.
"When I looked at the maps posted by the developers I could see a road was planned to run right through my house.
"In late July this year I was writing and heard a loud roar -- the house next door was knocked down in half an hour."
Forced home removals have become one of China's hot-button issues, the prime cause being so-called mass events: the tens of thousands of annual (often violent) anti-government protests that build in number each year and are generally off-limits to the country's tightly controlled media. The prime complaint? Little notice and insufficient compensation by local governments whose main source of income is selling land to developers, often into joint ventures that provide kickbacks for party officials.
Corruption goes hand in glove with China's economic rise.
Yan started his writing career penning propaganda for the People's Liberation Army and found fame with his novel, Serve the People, which told the story of a bored army wife's affair with a younger man who is turned on by wrecking Communist Party paraphernalia.Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners.
In March, Yan made his first visit to Australia ("I loved Perth," he says) to promote the latest of his novels to be translated into English. The Dream of a Ding Village is a searing portrait of one of China's biggest health scandals, the systemic buying and selling of blood tainted with HIV-AIDS from villagers in China's rural heartland of Henan province.
More than 130,000 people -- most of them impoverished farmers -- were infected with HIV-AIDS through the giving of blood; another 170,000 were infected by blood transfusions in rural hospitals. The real numbers will never be known and could be much higher, as the disaster was covered up by all levels of government.
The scandal happened on the watch of then party secretary Li Keqiang, the leading candidate to replace Wen Jiabao next year as the country's premier.
Yan's house today is a distressing site. The homes next door and behind have already been hit by the wrecker's ball. It's as though the road builders have deliberately left the remains of Yan's neighbours' homes as a brutal reminder that his will be next. There is no escape.
It may be still standing, but his house has been wrecked by thieves and vandals.
Yan moved out of the house -- now worth between 4-5 million yuan ($620,000-$770,000) in Beijing's booming property market -- several months ago, back to his smaller flat in north Beijing.
"(Officials) suddenly pulled down the security fence without any notice,A long established toolmaking and trade Injection moulds company." he says. "Then the vandals came pulling out any fixtures that remained, such as sinks and taps as well as ripping out copper wiring."
But what happened next was like something out of one of his searing novels detailing the human cost of China's development. The government is planning to knock down his house and offer him only about one-third of its value in compensation. The two-storey, freestanding homes of two neighbours are already piles of rubble,Polycore oil paintings for sale are manufactured as a single sheet, and Yan's dream house lies deserted, desecrated by vandals.
It had started so well. The developer was keen to attract a few well-known names to his project, which consisted of scores of houses, each with their own gardens as well as access to hectares of bushland including two lakes. The sprawling estate is something of an oddity in the hectic Chinese capital, whose population is well over 20 million.
Because of his status, Yan admits he was offered the home at a decent discount. In August 2008 he moved in and quickly became inspired to write his next novel. Yan's move to a bucolic setting influenced and even touched him: a country boy at heart, he was back among nature, where he thought he might belong.
His latest book was to be something different from his increasingly furious satires about the Chinese system and its relentless, often dehumanising policy of development at all costs -- particularly the human cost. His most recent published novel Four Books (Si Shu) has yet to be translated into English (it's due next year) but it explains the effects of China's Great Famine of 1958-1961 in which as many 40 million died as hundreds of millions of farmers melted down their metal -- including farm tools at the expense of their harvests -- on the orders of leader Mao Zedong. It's a topic that,ceramic magic cube for the medical, decades after the tragedy, remains sensitive with the country's communist leaders, as the party continues to struggle with the murderous legacy of Mao, whose giant portrait still dominates Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing.
"My inspiration for my latest book was Walden, or Life the Woods by Henry Thoreau,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems," Yan tells The Australian as he drives us from a local coffee shop, off a busy arterial road and into beautiful wooded area bathed in late autumn hues. Like Thoreau, who describes two years building and living in a cabin, Yan is inspired by his house in the woods, albeit on the edge of the city.
The as-yet-untitled book -- which is nearly finished -- is about how man fits in with the natural environment.
A year after Yan moved in and started to write, taking daily walks through his woodland haven, rumours began circulating among neighbours that a road was to be built through the middle of the compound.
"It was just like something from one of my novels," Yan says. "No one would believe it. Then in May this year the news became official, causing sudden confusion among everyone.
"When I looked at the maps posted by the developers I could see a road was planned to run right through my house.
"In late July this year I was writing and heard a loud roar -- the house next door was knocked down in half an hour."
Forced home removals have become one of China's hot-button issues, the prime cause being so-called mass events: the tens of thousands of annual (often violent) anti-government protests that build in number each year and are generally off-limits to the country's tightly controlled media. The prime complaint? Little notice and insufficient compensation by local governments whose main source of income is selling land to developers, often into joint ventures that provide kickbacks for party officials.
Corruption goes hand in glove with China's economic rise.
Yan started his writing career penning propaganda for the People's Liberation Army and found fame with his novel, Serve the People, which told the story of a bored army wife's affair with a younger man who is turned on by wrecking Communist Party paraphernalia.Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners.
In March, Yan made his first visit to Australia ("I loved Perth," he says) to promote the latest of his novels to be translated into English. The Dream of a Ding Village is a searing portrait of one of China's biggest health scandals, the systemic buying and selling of blood tainted with HIV-AIDS from villagers in China's rural heartland of Henan province.
More than 130,000 people -- most of them impoverished farmers -- were infected with HIV-AIDS through the giving of blood; another 170,000 were infected by blood transfusions in rural hospitals. The real numbers will never be known and could be much higher, as the disaster was covered up by all levels of government.
The scandal happened on the watch of then party secretary Li Keqiang, the leading candidate to replace Wen Jiabao next year as the country's premier.
Yan's house today is a distressing site. The homes next door and behind have already been hit by the wrecker's ball. It's as though the road builders have deliberately left the remains of Yan's neighbours' homes as a brutal reminder that his will be next. There is no escape.
It may be still standing, but his house has been wrecked by thieves and vandals.
Yan moved out of the house -- now worth between 4-5 million yuan ($620,000-$770,000) in Beijing's booming property market -- several months ago, back to his smaller flat in north Beijing.
"(Officials) suddenly pulled down the security fence without any notice,A long established toolmaking and trade Injection moulds company." he says. "Then the vandals came pulling out any fixtures that remained, such as sinks and taps as well as ripping out copper wiring."
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