AN ELDERLY Chinese couple refused to leave their home after local officials ordered it demolished for a new highway, claiming the compensation would not be enough for them to rebuild.

Homeowners Luo Baogen and his wife refused to allow the government to demolish their home in Xiazhangyang, Zhejiang province, forcing authorities to build a new motorway around their half-demolished block of flats.

Demolition experts left the apartments either side of the Luao's intact to prevent the building collapsing.

After decades of rapid urbanisation which have seen old districts of Chinese cities razed to the ground to make way for new developments, a recent change in the law means that authorities are unable to demolish homes without the owner's formal consent.

Luo Baogen and his wife are the latest examples of a new trend in Chinese civil disobedience, the refuseniks who won't make way for new construction projects: dubbed "nail householders" because they are like the nails which are hard to remove from planks of wood.

The Luo's claim the relocation compensation offered to them by authorities would not cover the cost of rebuilding.

The new road leads from Xiazhangyang to nearby Wenling airport.

Simon Crerar is News Limited's Visual Story Editor, follow him at twitter.com/simoncrerar

