[Marxism] Angry villagers revolt in rural China

[Richard Fidler]

Residents occupy seat of local government, fed up with officials selling off
communal farmland 

Oct 11, 2007 04:30 AM 
Bill Schiller 
ASIA BUREAU 
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/265581

XIANTANG VILLAGE, China-After years of simmering suspicion and mounting
anger, the citizens of this sleepy south China village of 3,500 decided they
weren't going to take it anymore. 

They were disturbed by what they saw: local politicians seemed to keep
getting richer and everyone else kept falling behind while communally owned
farmland kept disappearing beneath commercial developments. 

Local citizens wanted to know how these land deals were done and where the
proceeds were going. 

They had a right to know. 

Under law, farmland - unlike urban land - is owned by the community as a
whole and regarded as the bedrock of a Chinese peasant's means to make a
living. 

So on July 2, hundreds of concerned citizens laid siege to Xiantang Village
Hall demanding to examine the books. 

Today - 101 days later - the citizens are still here. 

It may be unprecedented in modern China. Citizens not only accused their
leaders of corruption, but drove them from office and continue to occupy the
central administration building - a modern five-storey structure now
festooned with fiery red banners. 

It is an astonishing sight in an authoritarian state. 

"SUPPORT GENERAL SECRETARY HU JINTAO'S SPIRIT OF ANTI-CORRUPTION," a
20-metre long banner shouts, invoking the Chinese president's name. "BUILD A
HARMONIOUS SOCIETY TOGETHER. FIGHT TO THE END THE CORRUPT OFFICIALS WHO
VIOLATE THE PEOPLE'S BENEFITS." 

Inside the building a number of citizens have set up basic housekeeping,
bringing with them bedding, small stoves and cooking utensils. Others occupy
the building only during the day. 

One recent afternoon there were about 200 people inside the hall. 

A few are in their early 20s. But many are middle-aged and greying, and some
are even in their late 80s. 

All want a thorough examination of the village committee's dealings and, if
wrongdoing is found, they want prosecutions. 

In the large and comfortable council chambers, citizens have erected a
painting of former leader Mao Zedong. 

"Mao granted us this land," citizen Lai Shunyou explains solemnly, seated in
one of the upholstered chairs. "And they (the former village committee) sold
this land to developers behind our back!" 

Lai Jiawen, in his mid-40s, speaks with urgency. "If we don't stand up to
them now, there won't be a single piece of land left. We make a living from
that land. But now - we have almost nothing." 

Nearby, a few of the elderly take seats and lean in, listening intently. 

"These old people cry almost every day," says a woman, Li Jianrong. 

Corruption involving local government officials and land deals is widespread
in China. 

The powerful central government has said so openly. 

Last month a senior official in the Ministry of Land and Resources announced
a nationwide campaign to rein in such corruption. 

Gan Zangchun criticized local governments that have "arbitrarily expanded
development areas in violation of the master plan," saying the central
government is prepared to act. Given that commitment, citizens here can't
understand why no government, at any level, has come to their aid. 

Even the police have stood back. 

As recently as Sept. 21, citizens say, two men associated with the former
village committee arrived at council offices and began loading boxes into a
minivan preparing to carry them away. 

Locals demanded to know what was inside the boxes. When the men said they
were "mooncakes" - a traditional Chinese pastry enjoyed during the
mid-autumn festival - close to 1,000 citizens blocked the vehicle. They then
ripped open the boxes and discovered years of village accounting ledgers
inside. 

Until then, the villagers had been unable to locate the accounting books. 

The records revealed details concerning land trades and factory rents and
management fees about which the villagers had known nothing. 

"There were millions in revenues - which was news to the villagers," said a
short but detailed summary entitled "A Desperate Plea from Xiantang
Villagers" compiled by citizens and provided to the Toronto Star. 

Citizens called police to report an attempted theft of the accounting books
but police said the incident was beyond their jurisdiction. 

"The people here were outraged," says Lai Shunyou. 

Over the past 100 days, the citizens have sent delegations to ever higher
levels of government, appealing for an investigation. They have gone to
Longjiang Town, to Shunde District, to Foshan City, to the province of
Guangdong and even to the central government's national petitioning office,
which hears appeals from citizens in the distant provinces who believe they
have been ill-treated by local governments. 

None of these offices have offered satisfaction. 

A so-called investigation by a team from the town was dismissed by locals as
a whitewash. 

They point out that no villagers were allowed to participate. 

Citizens also complain that news about the events in Xiantang is being
blocked. 

"No one can hear of the villagers' suffering. Reporters are forbidden to
report on it," the citizen's letter says. 

None of mainland China's newspapers, which are all state-owned or
state-controlled, have reported on the villagers' protest. 

Only a single paper in Hong Kong, The Sun, filed a short story in late
September. 

Meanwhile, without government assistance and without media coverage,
citizens say they have now become targets of intimidation and revenge
attacks believed to originate from the family and supporters of the
politicians driven from power. 

They say recent "terrorist incidents" have included a villager being burned
out of his home; the assault of a woman in her 60s in front of others at the
Village Hall; the pouring of red oil at the front doors of grocery stores
and barber shops of those participating in the occupation; and the locking
of a citizen's front door with a towel soaked in gasoline. 

Villagers believe their lives and safety are under threat. 

Still, they continue to guard the village accounts, hopeful that "wise,
higher officials" will grant them justice and finally order a thorough
investigation. 

Meanwhile, an official reached at Longjiang Town this week said he couldn't
comment on events at Xiantang Village and referred calls to Shunde's press
office. Repeated calls there went unanswered. 

And officials at Guangdong province press office declined to respond to
questions faxed to them at their request.