In her 20 years running a ramshackle flower shop out of the East Broadway Mall, florist Mei Rong Song has put up with a lot.

Her shop doesn’t have heat or running water. The plywood-floored room gets so cold in the winter that Song has to close her business down for four months every year. And don’t even get her started on the 30 cents it costs to use the cramped bathrooms in the basement.

But Song’s landlords’ attempts to raise her rent a staggering 500 percent in a single month, from $2,900 to $12,000 a month, was the last straw. The florist, a talkative woman from Fujian, China fought back and after three years something unexpected in this close-knit community happened… she won.

The New York State Court of Appeals dismissed proceedings to evict Song on August 31.  Her landlord sue Song after she refused to pay an additional $9,900 in rent. Community activists are calling the ruling a victory for Chinatown’s working poor, who often fall victim to unscrupulous landlords and remain silent out of fear of eviction.

“I couldn’t just let them bully me around and be scared,” said Song, 41, at a press conference Wednesday. “I had to stand up and stay in this community.

The building is owned by the city, but landlords Terry and Min Yan Chan have been allowed to operate without restriction, said community activists. Together the father and son have forced tenants into impossible leases, they say, requiring six months “key money” up front in cash, only to evict tenants once they can’t pay the rent. Many of the shops, like Mei Song Flower Store, lack necessary amenities, like heat or running water.

Calls to Terry Chan were not returned by deadline. Additional calls made to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, who oversees the city-owned East Broadway Mall, were also unreturned.

The conditions here are, “reminiscent of this area in the 1920s,” said Candace C. Carponter, the attorney for Song’s appeal. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a landlord not provide utilities and heat.”

Landlords like the Chans often operate under the radar in communities like Chinatown, said Carponter, preying on recent immigrants who avoid taking legal action.

“It is, unfortunately, a group that is very easily intimidated by the threat of eviction,” said Carponter. “I honestly believe the court process is something that is very overwhelming for them.”

That’s what makes Song’s victory so important for the small business owners of Chinatown.

“In Chinatown there is a lot of forces trying to push us out and destroy the whole community,” said Wing Lam, director of the Chinese Staff and Workers Association. “This displacement not only hurts small businesses, but hurts the people in this community.”

The rents are designed to force businesses out, explained Carponter. The mall, a three-story tangle of Chinese restaurants, cosmetics counters and hair salons, has become a revolving door of failed businesses, explain tenants.

But rents are still high. Walking through the building with Song Wednesday afternoon, the outspoken florist pointed out a busy dumpling restaurant explaining, in Mandarin, that they paid $10,000 a month. A small cosmetics counter upstairs forks over $4,000 a month. A hair salon pays $8,500.

“I want to urge the small businesses in the community to come out and fight,” said Song.