Some 200 courtyard homes at the ancient walled city of Pingyao in Shanxi province were recently seized by the Chinese authorities.

These privately owned properties were among the ones taken over by the government during the socialist transformation in 1958. Owners have in recent years reclaimed ownership by buying them back from the government and turned them into guesthouses, but the authorities are now walking back on the decision.

According to the local authorities, returning the properties was a mistake, which is now corrected.

Zhao Peijin, owner of Bao Yu Yuan on Nan Street, told Apple Daily that his family-owned property since the Qing Dynasty was renovated into a guest house in 2018. Yet the Pingyao Natural Resources Bureau published in the newspapers last month and declared their property ownership certificate void. “It’s the government, ordinary people like us dare not mess with them,” said Zhao.

Another resident Wu Bing told Voice of America that the confiscation was a result of the local government’s financial woes.

“The government cannot afford to pay its employees and tourist attractions draw a decent income. So they have their eyes on people’s source of livelihood and want to run [the guesthouses] by themselves.” Wu added that many security officers are disgruntled by the recent salary cut.

According to the 2020 policy report of the Pingyao municipal government, the county was visited by 17.65 million tourists in the past year, generating a revenue of 20.97 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion).

When the People’s Republic of China was first established, the weak economy and the socialist wave drove the state to take over private properties. The properties were only gradually returned after the Cultural Revolution, said veteran political commentator Johnny Lau.

What is happening at the old city of Pingyao now is just history repeating itself, given how cash-strapped the government is, said Lau. He believed similar scenes would play out across China. “It’s similar to Hong Kong. The government will promise you anything when you’re of value to it. When you’re not, it will turn hostile.”

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