"I'll protect my house with my life. I'll set myself on fire," said Lao Chai, who asked not to be identified by his full name for fear of retribution from the government.
"We don't want to move. We're happy where we are," he added, puffing on an acrid cigarette in a dingy tea house, not far from the frenetic building continuing apace for 2008.
"Companies have been telling employees who don't want to move to make way for Olympic venues that if you don't go, you'll be out of a job," he said. "Many people moved only because their jobs were threatened."
Compensation has been offered, he says, but at levels set in 2001 when real estate prices were lower.
"Prices have rocketed since then. You can't buy anything with that money," he adds. "And if you're forced to move, the money is even less."
Top: Residents rest in an alleyway at the Qianmen area where buildings and alleyways are being torn down to make way for modern development in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
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