Rural land disputes in China
Rural land disputes are increasing and spreading to the undeveloped west of the country, according to a poll published in October in a magazine run by Xinhua news agency.
Media reports say protesters have attacked government buildings in southern China in protest over land seizures.
Local government offices were gutted in Wukan, one of a cluster of suburbs in Lufeng, a city of 1.7 million, with broken furniture, smashed glass and papers strewn about the courtyard. A police station was deserted, its windows shattered and its sign smashed.
Hundreds of villagers in the suburb signed a white banner, demanding the return of swathes of land seized in recent years.
The disputes in a country where the government legally owns all land have spawned protests, fights with police, imprisonment and suicides, and created a recurring headache for the ruling Communist Party, obsessed with stability.
"We don't have weapons and armour, nor can we match them for strength, but we have the numbers to protect our village and the lives in it," said a farmer representative from Wukan who addressed a cheering crowd via loud speaker.
As China rapidly modernises, wrenching changes have stoked tens of thousands of so called "mass incidents" countrywide each year. Authorities often crackdown swiftly on such dissent, including censoring reports, fearful of trouble proliferating.
There are also reports of a round of industrial disputes over pay and benefits in export hubs such as Guangdong, as overseas demand for Chinese goods weakens amid a sluggish western economy.
Sources:
guardian.co.uk
Staple News
msnbc.com
TeakDoor.com
Signalfire
Rural land disputes are increasing and spreading to the undeveloped west of the country, according to a poll published in October in a magazine run by Xinhua news agency.
Media reports say protesters have attacked government buildings in southern China in protest over land seizures.
Local government offices were gutted in Wukan, one of a cluster of suburbs in Lufeng, a city of 1.7 million, with broken furniture, smashed glass and papers strewn about the courtyard. A police station was deserted, its windows shattered and its sign smashed.
Hundreds of villagers in the suburb signed a white banner, demanding the return of swathes of land seized in recent years.
The disputes in a country where the government legally owns all land have spawned protests, fights with police, imprisonment and suicides, and created a recurring headache for the ruling Communist Party, obsessed with stability.
"We don't have weapons and armour, nor can we match them for strength, but we have the numbers to protect our village and the lives in it," said a farmer representative from Wukan who addressed a cheering crowd via loud speaker.
As China rapidly modernises, wrenching changes have stoked tens of thousands of so called "mass incidents" countrywide each year. Authorities often crackdown swiftly on such dissent, including censoring reports, fearful of trouble proliferating.
There are also reports of a round of industrial disputes over pay and benefits in export hubs such as Guangdong, as overseas demand for Chinese goods weakens amid a sluggish western economy.
Sources:
guardian.co.uk
Staple News
msnbc.com
TeakDoor.com
Signalfire
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