Paradise Lost

• Photographer
  Yuan Zhang, China
• October 27, 2025 was a bad day for residents of Qinglonghu Shanshui Courtyard community in northeast suburban area of Beijing. On that day, a township government posted a notice saying that about 200 houses in the community would be mandatorily demolished, which based on a civil ruling by a district court in 2011, labeling the houses as illegal architectures. Until then, house owners didn’t know there was such a ruling. The community was a project approved by the local township and district governments over 20 years ago and its planning scheme was also approved by the municipal government.