City 'ants' face eviction from colonies
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"The percentage of people living in areas smaller than 10 square meters has decreased from that of our 2009 survey, which was 69.6 percent," said Lian. "That's mainly because living areas are larger in cities other than Beijing. The figure for 2009 was only for Beijing."
He estimates the ant tribe population passed the 1-million mark nationwide in 2010. "The key is how effectively the new regulation is carried out, especially at the ground level. Based on past experiences, local governments lack the implementation capacities," added Lian.
Making it happen
The difficulties authorities face in enforcing the ban is also a concern for those in the property industry.
"The regulation is basically saying every person should live in an individual room, which goes against the current market trend," said Chen Baocun, assistant secretary-general of the National Real Estate Managers' Alliance.
He said he feels the rules will be virtually impossible to implement as long as there is huge demand for capsule apartments. Administrations will have to invest time and manpower to prevent illegal conversions and group rentals, he said. "Once there is a loophole, the fish will escape the net."
Li at the UIBE agreed and added: "There are 2.4 million apartments for rent in the capital alone. Checking door to door would be a massive job."
In fact, eight districts of Beijing have prohibited room conversions to create cubicles since in September 2009.
A real estate agent in Beijing who did not want to be identified explained that large companies like the one he works for have gradually stopped building capsule units since the 2009 regulation, "although I can find you one if you are really in need".
Xu Ying said she has experienced the slow implementation of anti-conversion regulations firsthand. Her family used to live in a rented apartment in Beijing's Haidian district but was forced to move after the owner of the property above carried out conversion work.
"In 2008, my neighbor upstairs built 12 partitions in their 160-square-meter apartment and leased the place to about 20 people," said the professor of journalism at Renmin University of China.
"Because of the large number of residents, the front doors of the residential block and the apartment were always open. Outsiders were free to enter the building," she said.
Worse was to come. In April 2009, a sewage line to the property above broke and spilled into Xu's home.
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