Demolition leads to care home

Compensation for houses enables apartments owner to improve the quality of life for elderly in Wuhan

When 33-year-old Chen Qing became the owner of 35 apartments worth more than 40 million yuan ($6.5 million) in downtown Wuhan, Hubei province, as compensation after his two houses in the suburbs were demolished in 2008, he resisted using the assets to expand his family's catering business. He thought instead about the plight of his grandparents before they died, and decided he wanted to improve life for the elderly.

Chen sold nine of the apartments to raise capital and converted the others into a community care home for the elderly in July 2013.