chen daochong, a member of the property management committee of zhongtai yaxuan community in chaoyang district, loves to "meddle in other people's business". he was recently pushed down for blocking the electric vehicle battery from being carried upstairs. "for safety, i will still take care of what i should take care of in the future."
2024-09-05
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chen daochong is 79 years old this year, and what he loves most is "mindful of other people's business".
if there was a fight on the bus, he would mediate; if a child from another city came to beijing for leukemia treatment, he would go over to donate money; if there was an ice disaster or earthquake, he would give the money to the community to donate on their behalf. more than 80% of the residents of the 4 high-rise buildings and 884 households in the community know this "uncle chen". he has lived here for 18 years and has promoted the community to clear out group rental houses and install 172 surveillance cameras to deter thieves and people who throw objects from high places.
although he is already in his 80s, he still retains the passion of his youth, "as a citizen, if conditions permit, i will help wherever i can."
when he was "meddling in other people's business", he had been verbally abused, with all kinds of nasty words. but it was the first time he was physically assaulted. on august 29, he was pushed by someone in his neighborhood because he was trying to stop an electric car battery from going upstairs. he fell on his back without any defense. he felt dizzy and his blood pressure soared to 175mmhg.
the accident came suddenly. chen daochong felt that he had given the young man a way out with kind words before he was pushed down, "unfortunately, i miscalculated this time." when asked about it, he said, "for everyone's safety, i still have to take care of what i should do in the future."
accidentally pushed down
at 7:50 am on august 29, when chen daochong was taking the elevator downstairs, he met a young man carrying an electric bicycle battery.
after leaving the unit, the young man walked quickly to the parking area of the electric bicycle, and when he was about to install the battery and ride away, chen daochong followed him, trying to persuade him not to bring the battery upstairs in the future. "as long as you promise not to take the battery upstairs in the future, i will let you go." chen daochong said to the young man on the bicycle, holding the handlebars with one hand.
the other party didn't listen and pushed him forward with his bike. "if you don't promise, i'm going to call the police." hearing chen daochong's words, the young man suddenly hit him on the left chest and then rode away.
chen daochong is in good shape. even though he is old and hunchbacked, he is still 1.82 meters tall. he walks around the red scarf park every morning and walks at least 10,000 steps a day. he has thick hair, and he dyes it when the white hair on both sides grows too much. no one has ever given him a seat on the subway - he doesn't look like an 80-year-old man at all.
"if i had been prepared, i would definitely not have fallen. i am still very resilient." chen daochong always said this when others came to care about him afterwards.
the 120 ambulance took chen daochong to the hospital. the doctor asked him what happened, and he said "nothing". someone asked him why he didn't stay in the hospital for two more days, and he said he "didn't know how to pretend". on september 2, the young man who pushed chen daochong was detained by chaoyang police.
chen daochong went home for a check-up. because he fell on his back, the skin on his coccyx was a little blue, his arm was bruised, and he felt a dull pain when he coughed from being hit in the chest.
the daughter's family was abroad. they only found out about her father's accident after seeing the news. they called in the middle of the night. "don't mind your own business." chen daochong's wife always told him this. every time his wife got angry, he would hang his head and not say anything. when his wife calmed down, he would go out and "meddle in other people's business."
always "meddling in other people's business"
chen daochong loves to "meddle in other people's business". the biggest "other person's business" he has ever meddled in is the management of group rental housing.
the balizhuang area where the zhongtai yaxuan community is located is close to the cbd. a large number of people live here, and the phenomenon of group renting in the community is prominent.
at 1:00 a.m. on december 10, 2013, a fire broke out on the platform outside the window of the beauty salon on the second floor of the no. 108 residential building. it was reported that the fire was caused by a cigarette butt thrown from the window on the 17th floor, which ignited the clothes on the platform outside the window on the second floor - those were old clothes collected by several kind-hearted residents and were to be sent to poor children in the disaster area the next day, and were temporarily placed there. the fire burned all the way to the fourth floor, and half of the wall was black.
the family in question had 32 people living in a 120-square-meter house and 24 people living in a 104-square-meter house next door. both houses were used as dormitories by a restaurant. the floor was covered with randomly pulled wires and wiring boards, and some wires were directly pulled to the distribution box to steal electricity. in the summer, the load was too heavy and the entire building had a power outage.
the accident happened because smoking was not allowed in the dormitory. the employees smoked by the window and then threw the cigarette butts downstairs.
the problem of group renting has been difficult to eradicate: just as the street staff finished cleaning up the problem, the black intermediaries brought people in again. chen daochong knew that the solution to the problem was with the intermediaries. as the "secretary-general" of the community property management committee, he went to the community and the police station to coordinate, and got a stamped notice to vacate within a time limit. then he went to talk to the intermediaries one by one, asking them to write a guarantee letter and ask the tenants to move out within a time limit.
for those who refused to move, he resorted to a ruthless move - cutting off the electricity. when the tenants called the police, he reasoned with them: "the power outage is not aimed at the group renting behavior itself, but at the fire hazard caused by group renting. if there is a safety problem and a fire occurs, the first to be damaged is the owner's own house, then the neighbors, and even the entire building." after the ruthless move was implemented, the agency that had not shown up for many appointments in the past took the initiative to show up.
for weeks, the yard was filled with dismantled partitions. within three months, all the shared rental houses were cleared out. at last count, there were 82 of the 187 shared rental houses on the entire street.
later, this initiative was recorded in major newspapers in beijing, and people listed it as the city's first typical case of the "three-party linkage" between property management, property owners' committee, and residents to manage group renting.
everyone's "uncle chen"
chen daochong has experienced many major changes in the community. he watched the developer build the building and moved into the new home in 2006, the year after his retirement. he should have lived a comfortable retirement life, but he couldn't stand the appearance of the community. "no one takes care of the greening of the community, the cleaning work is not up to par, and construction waste is often piled up at the gate." chen daochong still keeps old photos.
a property owners' committee was established, new property management was invited in, and shared rental houses were cleared out. with great fanfare, the community was finally back on track.
when he was young, chen daochong worked at douhe power plant, the largest thermal power plant in china at that time. he was a senior engineer and was responsible for training. he had to travel almost every month. after decades of hard work, he retired and made up his mind not to do any work, and not to go out to play even if someone came to rehire him.
he drove to xinjiang, yunnan, hainan, and also went to the arctic on a cruise ship. but even when he was outside, he was still thinking about things in the community: the elevator in the resettlement building broke down, what to do without the public maintenance fund; the top floor house was leaking, the parking lot floor tiles were broken, and he needed to negotiate with the property management for repairs; some people who didn't pay the property management fee had to write lawsuit materials; where to put the electric bicycle charging station in the community so that it would not disturb the residents and be convenient for charging...
now, he arrives at the homeowners committee on time at 10 a.m. every day and attends meetings until 12 p.m. he is also entrusted by the community to become the owner of the homeowners group, with the nickname "spokesperson of the homeowners committee," which makes him feel like he has returned to his life before retirement.
more than 80% of the 884 households in the community know chen daochong. after he was pushed down this time, neighbors who hadn't contacted him for a long time sent him messages, calling him "uncle chen"; every group was "exploded" after seeing the news, and everyone expressed their anger; there was even a neighbor who saw the news and knocked on his door at 11 o'clock in the middle of the night carrying fruit.
originally, chen daochong wanted to say goodbye to "meddling" after changing the property, but he couldn't help but "meddle" in many things he heard or saw. "i always joke with them that it's easy to get on a pirate ship, but it's hard to get off."
he also had his reasons for not leaving the ship: he had undergone five major surgeries, the last one for colon cancer. during the operation, more than 20 neighbors were waiting at the door, and two neighbors donated blood for him. a neighbor on the third floor did not pass the blood test, so he called his son who was in college to come back to donate blood. "you say they have done this, how can i leave?"
beijing news reporter guo yimeng
