We first reported on this incident at Cable 8 Creative Space a few weeks ago and decided to send a reporter over to speak with Creative Space event planner Xiong Ying to dig a bit more into the dispute between Creative Space businesses and government authorities

On the evening of Oct. 20, a 200-member demolition crew rolled into Cable 8 Creative Space—an enclave of creative businesses and studios near the CBD—to tear down the buildings. Creative Space employees fought back, attempting to grab the crew’s tools and stop their trucks. They didn’t succeed. Seven were injured, three of whom were hospitalized. The incident—which was videotaped—places Cable 8 on a long list of forced demolitions of properties still occupied following land disputes in Beijing.

The incident calls to mind last year’s Warm Winter project in which artists staged a series of performance art protests of the planned demolition of buildings people were still living in. Problems began for Cable 8 Creative Space this past February, when their landlords—the owners of the Cable 8 Factory complex where the space is located—were informed by authorities that the area was slated for demolition. Creative Space event planner Xiong Ying says Cable 8 factory owners were offered a compensation package. It was then up to them to decide how much of a cut to offer tenants. Ying says the Creative Space was offered ¥60,000,000, a number the organization’s leaders deemed too low. That is “maybe 10 percent of what we think is fair,” Ying says. Creative Space management was hoping to hold out for better compensation.

Cable 8 Creative Space was home to 160 creative projects and businesses, including fashion, design, film and new media companies, as well as artists’ studios, and was a collaborative effort between Chinese and foreign partners.

Ying says the Creative Center supports city initiatives to improve Beijing’s urban landscape and was cooperating with the relocation order, despite reports of upset and pushback from artists connected with the space. Three months ago, Cable 8 organizers began assisting all of their companies in the relocation process, Ying says, but not all had been moved by the Oct. 20 incident. “Now they’re all gone,” she says.