We ’ re used to reading about construction projects springing up in China at lightning speed – but things don ’ t always go according to plan . Sometimes stubborn house owners get in the way , as these incredible images show . These are the ‘ nail ’ houses in China left standing after their owners refused to give in to property developers vying for their demolition . Homes such as these in China are known as 'dingzihu ' or 'nail houses ' because they stick out and are difficult to remove , like a stubborn nail . Scroll down for video . Last house standing : A car stops beside a house in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling , Zhejiang provinc . A nail house , the last building in the area , sits in the middle of a road under construction in Nanning , Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region . According to local media , the owner of the house did n't reach an agreement with the local authority about compensation of the demolition . A nail housestands in the centre of a construction site which will be developed as a new apartment zone in Chongqing Municipality . A nail house is seen surrounded by a ditch at a construction site for a new residential compound in Xiangyang , Hubei province . A woman walks past a nail house , the last house in this area , on the outskirts of Nanjing , Jiangsu province . Cut off : A six-floor villa on the construction site in the central business district of Shenzhen . Here comes rubble : A partially demolished nail house at a construction site in Hefei , Anhui province . One of a kind : A nail house is pictured at a construction site which will be developed into a new apartment zone in Hefei , Anhui province . The banner reads ' ( We ) strongly request the government punishes the criminals . They demolish my house by force . They must return my land ' One house in Wenling , Zhejiang province , had a main road built around it when the owner refused to move . An amazing photograph from 2012 shows cars driving around the five-storey property . It remained in the middle of the road for four years . Another image shows a house sitting alone in a crater at the centre of a construction site in Chongqing Municipality , its overgrown garden still intact . Cao Wenxia ( left ) , the owner of a nail house , lights firecrackers to celebrate Chinese New Year near an excavator used for demolishing buildings near his house in Hefei , Anhui province . Zheng Meiju walks towards her partially demolished nail house ( back ) in Rui'an , Zhejiang province . The demolition of a nail house at a construction site in Guangzhou , Guangdong province . Owner Zhao Xing , 58 , collects water near his partially demolished nail house at a construction site in Kunming , Yunnan province . A similarly bizarre sight resulted when a home owner in in Nanning , Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region , refused to give in to developers . There ’ s now a single-storey ramshackle house there sitting at a skewed angle in the middle of a road in an otherwise modern and symmetrical housing development . According to local media , the owner of the house did n't reach an agreement with the local authority about compensation for the demolition . Defiant to the last , nail house owners will often carry on living in their homes even when water and electricity supplies have been cut off . A woman stands at the balcony of her house which will be demolished to build new apartments in downtown Shanghai . Xu Aiguo , the owner of a nail house in Nanjing , Jiangsu province , sets up a Chinese national flag outside his balcony . A nail house stands on the square in front of a shopping mall in Changsha , central China 's Hunan province . Cao Mingyun , daughter of 75-year-old Cao Wenxia , the owner of a nail house , talks to journalist in front of their house in Hefei , Anhui province .
Homes such as these in China are known as 'nail houses ' because they are difficult to remove , like a stubborn nail . One house in Wenling , Zhejiang province , had a main road built around it when the owner refused to move . Another image shows a house sitting alone in a crater at the centre of a construction site in Chongqing Municipality .