Chinese authorities have ordered the demolition of a 10-story wooden house in Guizhou Province after its owner spent nearly eight years and hundreds of thousands of yuan expanding a single-story home into a famous tourist spot likened to a world straight out of the "Studio Ghibli" anime. Officials declared the structure illegal and unsafe.
The unusual home in Xingyi village, Guizhou Province, southwestern China, was demolished after law enforcement officers dismantled the loosely constructed 10-story building, reducing it to the original single-story structure within a few hours.
The house belonged to 43-year-old Chen Tianming, who spent nearly eight years and about 200,000 yuan (approximately 960,000 baht) transforming his family's single-story hut into a pyramid-shaped wooden tower filled with plywood rooms, corridors, stairways, and balconies stacked atop each other, supported only by bamboo scaffolding.
Its unique and creative design made Chen's house a popular alternative tourist attraction, with visitors and media comparing the strange architecture to the delicate and fantastical imaginary worlds created by Hayao Miyazaki, the famed animator and co-founder of Japan's Studio Ghibli.
Back in 2018, Guizhou authorities demolished most of Xingyi village to prepare for a government resort project in the region, renowned for its scenic mountains and stunning terraced rice fields. Chen and his parents refused to relocate.
When the government resort project stalled, Chen began gradually adding floors to his house as an act of defiance against demolition threats. He completed the fifth floor in 2019, the sixth in 2022, and reached the seventh floor in 2023, eventually creating a prominent tower above the surrounding farmland.
Local officials continuously warned that the structure lacked proper building permits, was made of plywood and warped wooden beams, and posed a significant safety hazard. In August 2024, authorities officially declared the house an "illegal structure" and ordered all additions removed within five days. Chen appealed and fought the order in court.
On 18 May, the Xingyi local administrative law enforcement office issued a final warning ordering Chen and his family to vacate the illegal structure by 09:00 on 20 May, threatening legal action if they obstructed officials' work.
Chen revealed that at the deadline, dozens of law enforcement and public security officers stormed the house, removed him and his parents, confiscated his mobile phone, and detained him at the local government office until evening, while the demolition team reduced the 10-story building to only its first floor.
A video Chen recorded after his release showed that the Ghibli-style tower had vanished, leaving only scattered wood scraps and construction debris on the ground.
Chen told AFP with acceptance, "I don't feel regret because regret is useless, and I don't blame myself for not being able to protect it. It's just that the force driving its destruction was overwhelmingly powerful."
However, Chen emphasized his continued desire to defend his rights, acknowledging the difficulty of overturning the case given the house's illegal status. He is currently seeking legal assistance to prove that the authorities' "forced demolition" was unlawful.
He concluded with hope, saying, "If the court rules that the demolition was illegal, I will have the chance to rebuild it."
.AFP