In the 1980s, Yu Youzhen was merely an ordinary vegetable farmer in
Wuhan City Hongshan District Donghu Village Huojiawa who, after years of
building and additions, came to possess three 5-storey private
buildings, most of which were rented out. In 2008, Yu Youzhen chanced
upon [government policies for] the requisition, demolition, and
redevelopment of land [mostly takes place in rural areas, where when a
peasant’s land is expropriated by the government and the peasant is
compensated for it with new houses or apartments in other locations] and
was successively given 21 apartments [for her previous property]. Yu
Youzhen personally witnessed some of her fellow villagers not engaging
themselves in decent activities after being compensated with multiple
apartments, falling into gambling, and even drug use. In order to set a
good example for her children, from 1998 onwards, the now landless Yu
Youzhen went to Wuchang District Chengguan Bureau to work as a
sanitation worker, with a 1,420 yuan monthly salary, only one day off
each week, and having to arrive for work 3 every morning.
Yu Youzhen is a contract worker for the Wuchang District Chengguan
Bureau Cleaning Team, with a 1,420 yuan monthly wage. Her household had
21 apartments in total but later successively sold 4 of them, with 17
left. Calculated according to market prices, she is literally a
“millionaire woman”. This picture is of January 2, in Wuhan, of “rich
woman” sanitation worker Mrs. Yu cleaning the street.
