People trapped in the noise of the neighborhood
"Bang Dang--" A harsh sound of moving the chair knocked Zheng Yun's sleep.
At five o'clock in the morning, the window was still dimly dim.
"Bang bang bang-click", the sound of footsteps and window opening came one after another, and the sound was clearly transmitted to the ears through the floor partitions. Zheng Yun could only sit up from the bed until half past five, Zheng Yun got up and got up. Go to the car and continue to rest.
Zheng Yun is 50 years old and lives in a community in Kunshan.
After divorce, Zheng Yun got used to living alone.
"On the weekends at home listening to music alone, swiping on Weibo and watching TV, there is nothing uncomfortable in life."
It's just that after the noise appeared every day like clocking in, this kind of life seemed to be broken, and the originally comfortable home has now become the most resisting place for Zheng Yun.
She became the first person to arrive and the latest to leave in the company.
After get off work, she chose to hide in all places where she could hide: bars, parks, coffee shops.
On the way home, she was worried about being fatigued. She parked her car next to the factory on the way home and curled up in the driver's seat to take a nap. After waking up, Zheng Yun often didn't know where she was.
There are many people like Zheng Yun who are disturbed by noise.
In 2019, Fu Yue from Suzhou established the WeChat public account "Anti-Noise Alliance", which has now been followed by 15,000 people.
There are now more than 1,500 people in the five WeChat groups.
Most of these members live in cities, and neighbourhood noise on weekdays has become the common "enemy" of the members.
After joining the Anti-Noise Alliance, he went from fighting alone to staying warm.
Everyone's ways to solve the noise problem have gradually become more diverse.
One year after establishing the "Anti-Noise Alliance", Fu Yue changed the name of the alliance to "Quiet House".
Fu Yue hopes that everyone can rationally defend their rights, oppose violence against violence, and start from their own changes, and have their own "quiet home" as soon as possible.
Trapped in noise
In the eyes of Li Linjing (pseudonym), a young urban man who rents a house for a long time, she is full of expectations for her first home.
In March 2017, 27-year-old Li Linjing and her boyfriend bought a new house of 100 square meters in downtown Shenyang. Li Linjing personally participated in the design and decoration of large and small, and spent a year decorating the new house to his liking. "Industrial style".
After moving into the new home in June 2018, through the floor, Li Linjing could clearly hear the sound of the old man upstairs smashing walnuts in the living room after 5 o'clock in the morning, and the sound of the children running and jumping upstairs hitting the floor. The shock wave, you can feel the constant buzzing, and the floor is constantly shaking. It's like you are in a drum, and they keep beating you on it."
After repeated communication to no avail, Li Linjing and her boyfriend had a physical conflict with the neighbors upstairs, but after the conflict, the noise remained the same.
Li Linjing has also asked the property for help, and the property stated that they have no right to ban the activities of the upper floors.
"At that time, I felt that the expectation and happiness during the previous year's renovation period looked like a joke." Li Linjing said.
On the other side, 35-year-old Fu Yue works in sales at a foreign trade company in Suzhou.
In 2019, the noise of the neighbors upstairs broke Fu Yue's original peaceful life.
Fu Yue wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses and spoke softly and gently.
In order to make it easier for her daughter to go to elementary school, Fu Yue bought a 100-square-meter school district house in Gusu District, Suzhou, and moved into this commercial house from the countryside of Suzhou. The driving time to work has also been reduced from two hours to half an hour.
There used to be a pair of elderly people who lived upstairs. For a long time, Fu Yue's life had hardly been turbulent except for firewood, rice, oil and salt.
Until the beginning of 2019, the house moved into a new neighbor: a family of six, two adults, two children and two elderly people.
Fu Yue said that the new neighbors who moved in upstairs work and rest completely opposite to him: 11 o'clock in the evening was the time when I fell asleep, but it was the time when the couple upstairs just got home from get off work.
When I was drowsy, there were the sounds of dragging tables and chairs, children running and jumping, tidying up the room, and smashing things upstairs.
After finally falling asleep, at around six o'clock in the morning, the old man upstairs was shopping for groceries on the trailer wheel, "grumbling", and then the child ran-"dong dong dong", about eight hours of sleep on weekdays, Fu Yue could only fall asleep. Three or four hours.
Fu Yue remembered that it was only after a month that he mustered up the courage to communicate with his neighbors for the first time.
After carefully knocking on the door of the other party's house, Fu Yue received a simple reply of "I got it," and the door was closed immediately.
When Fu Yue returned home, he found that the noise had not been reduced at all.
There were too many communication times, and Fu Yue knocked on the door again and didn't open the door. "They said in the house,'If you know, let's go, don't come again'."
Fu Yue said that in the case of prolonged lack of sleep, his mental state has gone wrong, and he has become increasingly impatient.
On the most impulsive time, he rushed into the kitchen and pulled out a kitchen knife, hoping to go upstairs and fight the other side to fight "you die or die."
"After calming down, I felt quite ridiculous." Fu Yue recalled that he had also had the idea of buying a floor shaker to counter the other party, but this idea just passed away: this method will only worsen the relationship between the two parties. , "The noise problem still cannot be really solved."
After that, Fu Yue moved back to the country to live, and the original half-hour journey to work was stretched to two hours.
Even so, Fu Yue feels that the two-hour drive is not worth mentioning compared to the problems of enduring noise and lack of sleep.
Quiet home
At the end of 2019, because his daughter was at the age of elementary school, Fu Yue could only choose to move back to the house in the city to face the noise problem.
He first spent tens of thousands of yuan to install a sound-proof ceiling in his home, and then specially bought sound-proof mats and sent them to the door of the neighbor’s house, saying that the excess was used at home. Although the neighbors rejected the sound-proof mat, Fu Yue felt that the other side’s attitude was Get better.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to patrol the building with the property, Fu Yue went to the neighbor's house upstairs and found that the neighbor had installed sound-proof mats under the tables, chairs and benches, and the noise gradually disappeared after 11 o'clock in the evening.
At the end of 2019, Fu Yue began to publish articles on noise science on the Internet.
Fu Yue feels that he has gone through the process of solving noise, and he can gather these people who are troubled by noise after work to discuss ways to solve noise. He changed the name of his official account to "Anti-Noise Alliance". Hope that more people find a solution to the noise in the neighborhood.
Li Linjing joined the anti-noise alliance by chance.
She found that although there were constant complaints about noise in the group, the solutions to noise began to become diversified.
According to the strategy recommended by the group of friends, Li Linjing also tried different methods.
The method of installing a sound-proof ceiling is not suitable for her home. She explained that the noise level upstairs in her house is very heavy. To completely block the noise, a very thick ceiling is needed. "After it is done, this house will not be able to live in. "Li Linjing decided to communicate with the neighbors upstairs again, persuading the neighbors to spend 1,000 yuan to buy shock-absorbing cushions, "but the effect is not good, and after a year or two, the cushions have been compacted, and now they can’t get anything. It works.” Li Linjing also tried to send soft-soled slippers to neighbors, but the effect was still not obvious.
Li Linjing tried to be friends with a neighbor's 6-year-old child again, taking advantage of the child to bring toys and mingle with the child while playing downstairs in the community.
This is called the most effective way by Li Linjing: "After their children get acquainted with us, they will say,'Uncles and aunts downstairs, we'll jump in the future.'"
Zhou Min (pseudonym) who lives in Shanghai's Pudong New Area also tried various methods recommended by the group to solve the noise problem.
Under the long-term noise trouble, Zhou Min has formed a kind of psychology: When the noise did not appear, Zhou Min began to wait for the noise to arrive.
"When there is a sound, I will be very irritable, painful and fearful. When there is no sound, I spend all my time waiting for that sound to arrive. The entire 24 hours are occupied by noise."
Zhou Min first bought the thickest earmuffs and slept in bed at night wearing earmuffs, but couldn't turn over.
Later, I tried noise desensitization treatment. I downloaded various sounds of high heels rubbing the ground from the Internet. I played these sounds every day in bed to try to desensitize. After only 4 days, Zhou Min could no longer bear it.
In the end, Zhou Min spent 40,000 yuan to knock open the ceiling and wall of his room, and filled it with the thickest soundproof cotton, gypsum board, and soundproof layer. In the past, the clear buzzing sound above his head was now changed under multiple barriers. Into a low muffled sound.
In Zhou Min's view, the noise problem has been greatly resolved.
Zheng Yun chose to summon the courage to fight back with the encouragement of the group of friends.
Zheng Yun, who thinks she has a weak personality, once delivered chickens, rice dumplings, and various snacks when mediating the noise problem with the neighbors upstairs. She hopes to solve the noise problem through friendly communication.
But the neighbour's own way of doing things made it all in vain.
Zheng Yun expressed his anger by broadcasting TV programs at maximum volume.
"Return to his own body by his own way."
There are also attempts to counter the noise with violence.
Fu Yue remembered that at the beginning of 2020, a 25-year-old boy who repeatedly communicated with the tenants upstairs to no avail, expressed in the group that he wanted to take the iron rod upstairs to retaliate against each other.
Many group friends persuaded him in the group, "Even if you knock on the door late at night to remind you, don't solve the problem in a violent way."
After chatting privately with the boys, Fu Yue learned that when the boys encountered the noise problem, they also had a lot of troubles in their lives, and their emotions were already at the critical point of collapse, so they had extreme thoughts.
After Fu Yue provided the boys with several solutions, the boys finally controlled the noise problem within an acceptable range by communicating with the landlord upstairs.
At the end of 2020, Fu Yue changed the name of the alliance to "Quiet House".
He hopes that those who join the alliance can rationally defend their rights and oppose violence against violence.
"When someone wants to use violence to solve a problem, some people in the group will persuade them: they can't fight, and in the end their life is ruined, and they have to bear criminal responsibility."
In the group announcement of Quiet Home, there are several group chat conventions formulated by Fu Yue: "You can complain, but do not publish curses or insulting videos" and "You must not promote violent methods."
Look forward to the law
The reporter's inquiry found that there have been more and more discussions about noise nuisance to the people in recent years.
There are now 150,000 followers on Weibo called "Please stop your noise upstairs" on Weibo, with 41.92 million readings. The content on Weibo under this chaohua is mostly full of negative emotions when complaining about the noise problem in the neighborhood. .
According to media reports, in April 2019, a man in Qinghai could not bear the "noise" from the neighbor's house upstairs and rushed into the house with a knife. He chopped and injured four people, causing two serious injuries.
On the evening of November 16, 2019, a man in Zhengzhou killed three girls upstairs due to a neighborhood noise dispute.
A search for "neighborhood noise" on the Judgment Document Network showed that from 2015 to 2021, there were 31 cases caused by neighborhood noise, of which 15 were criminal cases, 15 were civil cases, and 1 was administrative.
Of the 31 cases, 6 involved compensation for personal injury, 2 involved detention, and 2 involved excessive defense.
According to data released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, according to incomplete statistics, in 2020, the total number of environmental noise complaints and reports received by the national ecological environment, public security, housing, and urban-rural construction departments is about 2.018 million, of which, social life noise complaints The number of reports was about 1.083 million, accounting for 53.7%.
In addition, in 2020, the “National Ecological Environment Complaint and Report Management Platform” received a total of more than 441,000 reports from the public. Among them, noise disturbances accounted for 41.2% of all reports, second only to air pollution.
According to my country’s "Environmental Noise Pollution Prevention and Control Law," Chapter 6, Article 46, when using household appliances, musical instruments or other family indoor entertainment activities, the volume should be controlled or other effective measures should be taken to avoid environmental noise pollution to surrounding residents .
In addition, according to the "Code for Sound Insulation Design of Civil Buildings", the allowable noise level for residential bedrooms and living rooms is: bedroom is less than or equal to 40 decibels during the day, and less than or equal to 30 decibels at night; and the living room is less than or equal to 40 decibels throughout the day.
Exceeding this standard means that the sound insulation of the building is not up to standard.
Fu Yue said that in the Property Law, there is a definition of the need for harmony between neighbors, and the "Environmental Noise Pollution Prevention Law" also only says that environmental noise pollution should be avoided to surrounding residents, but the above-mentioned laws and regulations do not define how to impose penalties on neighboring noise. .
Fu Yue said that it is precisely because there is no way to rely on it. In reality, neighborhood committees, police stations and other institutions are often at a loss for noise disputes.
At the level of litigation, there is often a problem of difficulty in obtaining evidence for noise, and it is impossible to directly prove the source of the noise. Most people will not choose to solve the problem through litigation.
"Before the complex legal proceedings are reached, people often choose to move."
Liu Xiaohong, a property manager of a community in Suzhou, told reporters that in the face of noise complaints from the owners, the property staff will use door-to-door mediation to persuade them, but only verbal mediation.
In addition, it can only rely on the owner to seek ways to deal with such as calling the police.
Fu Yue said that because of this, they are full of expectations for the "Environmental Noise Pollution Prevention and Control Law" that is being proposed for amendment.
According to media reports, on the morning of August 18, the 30th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress conducted group deliberations on the draft Noise Pollution Prevention and Control Law. The deputies of the National People’s Congress believed that with the continuous improvement of living standards, the people were more concerned about "quietness". The needs of the living environment are increasing, but noise pollution is frequent, diverse, and increasingly serious. The revision of the Noise Pollution Prevention and Control Law has responded to the new requirements and expectations of the people.
Hu Jing, deputy director of the Institute of Environmental Resources Law of China University of Political Science and Law, participated in the 2021 "Noise Pollution Prevention and Control Law (Draft)" expert seminar.
He said that the seminar had a special discussion on the neighborhood noise problem, which has been complained a lot in recent years, and the core of the discussion mainly focused on the evidence collection of neighborhood noise in the legal proceedings.
Hu Jing said that after the promulgation of the new noise pollution prevention and control law, the property and neighborhood committees and other grassroots organizations may be given the right and responsibility to resolve neighbourhood noise disputes.
"If this level cannot be resolved, you can seek further solutions from the police at the police station."
"After the problem goes beyond ordinary disputes, the public security organs cannot adopt an attitude of neglect because they have not reached the level of criminal cases. There are many natural hidden dangers in the neighborhood noise problem, and the public security organs should take action to stop them in time."
According to data from the official website of the National People's Congress, in 2021, a total of 33 draft laws have been completed to solicit opinions from the public. Among them, the "Noise Pollution Prevention and Control Law (Draft)" ranks third in the number of opinions, and the number of opinions reaches 3,068.
"Before everything is mature, you can only change yourself"
The 45-year-old Chu Tian (a pseudonym) suffered from the piano sound upstairs for 15 years.
In his view, neighborhood noise has also become a "by-product" of urban operations in modern society.
And some people have put all their energy into work and are already at the critical value of stress. Under the influence of noise, the last straw has also been crushed.
"The middle class of society has generally pushed themselves to the limit at work to maximize their effectiveness. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for people to accept unplanned negative stimuli."
In Chutian's view, the noise problem cannot be changed in a short period of time. Because everyone has different levels of stress, if the problem cannot be solved from the physical and psychological levels, the only rational way out is to choose to leave.
"Society's awareness of noise is uneven. Many people have not experienced the mental pressure caused by this noise, and they cannot reach the level of empathy. The problem of noise is not a so-called'make a fuss', it's just a matter of chance. After the encounter, even if a person does not have high-pressure work or other pressures in life, he may not be able to withstand the harm caused by noise."
In the past two years, Fu Yue continued to submit proposals on noise legislation on the Jiangsu Political Consultative Conference website. The proposal was once in the top three of the website's popularity.
Fu Yue said that although the current influence is not large, he will stick to it every year.
"We want a quiet home, but why does a seemingly simple requirement become so difficult?" Fu Yue believes that "quietness" is just a simple pursuit of life, but now people even this pursuit is becoming more and more difficult .
The revision of the Noise Pollution Prevention and Control Law is still in the draft stage. People who are currently troubled by noise can only rely on various channels to endure and fight back. "Before everything is mature, we can only change ourselves." Fu Yue said.
At the end of 2020, after the tenants upstairs moved out, Zhou Min moved into a new family of three upstairs.
This time, Zhou Min chose to take the initiative to communicate with him and added a neighbor's WeChat. He would also take the initiative to say hello when he met in the corridor.
Chu Tian secretly made up his mind that if he wants to buy a new house in the future, he must choose a house on the top floor.
Li Linjing and her boyfriend plan to sell the house within one or two years, and then buy a second-hand house. "Buying a new house is like buying a blind box. You don’t know what kind of neighbors you will get. A second-hand house can at least know the building before making a decision. Who is living upstairs and downstairs?" Li Linjing said that in the future, she will pay more attention to noise reduction in the decoration.
On November 19, Zheng Yun still woke up at five o'clock in the morning.
This morning was a little different from before—Zheng Yun only counted seven noises, and the sound was also softer than before.
"It must be the TV show at the highest volume yesterday to counter their role."
At five o'clock in the afternoon, after drinking a cup of coffee in the cafe, Zheng Yun planned to go home early.
Zheng Yun said that he hadn't bothered to go shopping in the supermarket for half a year, and the noise was lighter.
Beijing News reporter Zhou Siya