'Real-life Parasite': Chinese man finds landlady living in basement for seven years

In what appears to be a real-life incident straight out of Palme d'Or and Oscar-winning film Parasite, a man in China found his former landlady living secretly in the basement of his house for seven years!

According to a report by South China Morning Post, Li, hailing from the Jiangsu province, bought a second-hand, city centre home for nearly two million yuan (almost $300,000) in 2018, much to the pride of his family.

Delighted with their new home, Li and his family moved in after renovating the place, and have there ever since.

However, while cleaning their house recently, Li stumbled upon a hidden door concealed behind a staircase, and upon further exploration, found that it led to a basement that he did not know existed before.

Heading down into the basement, Li discovered that it was rather large, and fully equipped with lights, a ventilation system, and even a small bar.

'Creeped out' by the discovery, Li immediately contacted the previous homeowner, a woman named Zhang, accusing her of deliberately hiding the basement from his knowledge at the time of sale.

However, to Li's surprise, Zhang told him that she sold him the house, not the basement. She went on to explain that the basement was her personal recreational space and hence, not part of the listed property or sale agreement.

SCMP reported that it is unclear how the woman went to and fro, but netizens weighed in, with some suggesting she had a spare key, and others suggesting the existence of a secret door.

Li, however, was not impressed, and insisted that having paid full price for the property, the basement should also be his.

He took his dispute to the court, which ruled in his favour, directing Zhang to pay compensation for Li's ordeal and handing over legal ownership of the basement to him.

Understandably, once reports of the incident made it to social media, people compared it with Bong Joon-ho's award-winning dark comedy film Parasite.