ABSTRACT
In the early morning of 27 June 2009, building 7 of the property complex Lotus Riverside in the Minhang district of Shanghai tipped over, crushing a migrant construction worker who was working and living there, killing him. The complex was a product of the Shanghai Meidu Real Estate company, which was founded as a collective enterprise of nearby town of Meilong, the urban administration with ownership rights to the land upon which Lotus Riverside was built (Li Meng 2009). In 2003, Meidu had won a ‘bid’ for the Lotus Riverside project obtaining land at a price estimated to be only one-third of the price (RMB 604 per square metre versus RMB 1,929 per square metre) of similar land parcels adjoining the area (Liu 2009). In the denouement of this building collapse, it was revealed that the second-largest shareholder in Meidu was also the assistant to the head of the town, a position that was promptly recognised as illegal and rescinded. Members of Meidu and the contracting construction company were arrested, while Vanke took over continued construction of Lotus Riverside and compensation negotiations with toppled apartments’ owners were initiated.
