As China prides itself in its breakneck economic growth, over 66 million Chinese farmers have lost their land in the last 10 years. The massive land grab has fattened the wallets of government officials and has left tens of thousands of farmers homeless and devastated.

In today' s China, land is valuable. People with political connections take control of land to build factories, housing complexes, shopping centres, etc. Often times, the local governments come and take away farmers¡¯ land without any negotiation. Most farmers have no choice but to accept whatever amount of compensation they¡¯re offered and move away from the land they¡¯ve farmed for generations. In recent years, however, more and more farmers have become aware of their rights and have begun to resist. (boxun.com)

Forced evictions are widespread in China today

May 31, 2005, in Nanhai, Guangdong province, over 4000 policemen were mobilized. Dozens of diggers and bulldozers drove into the farm land of local farmers and began dump sandy earth. Over 60 acres of land turned into wasteland overnight.

June 1, 2005, just outside of Chongqing, in Southwest China, more than 300 policemen turned up at the houses of farmers Xiong Kaiyan, Xiong Tianbi and Wang Qiang. While the armed police looked on, officials kicked open the doors and dumped the household goods on the street outside. Within hours, three farm houses collapsed under the wheels of two bulldozers.

June 11, 2005, in Dingzhou, Hebei, hundreds of men armed with hunting rifles, clubs and spears attacked a group of farmers who pitched tents on their disputed land to defend it. Six farmers were killed and over 100 seriously injured.

Farm land has no legal protection

Hou Wenzhou, director of Empowerment and Rights Institute, a Beijing-based non-government organization, summed up the nature of this aggressive land seizure in an interview with the BBC recently.

" Legal entitlement of farm land is not clearly defined in China. It looks like it belongs to the farmers, but if the government wants to take it away, it¡¯s very easy. The government can say it¡¯s for the good of the country, for the interest of the State. The farmers are told to give up their personal interests and individual rights to serve the State. The reality is that local governments use the slogan of public interest to serve their own. They use all sorts of reasons and excuses to take away land from the peasantry. The interests of the farmers are totally ignored" , says Hou Wenzhou.

When asked why the State needs so much land and what the seized land is used for, Hou gave the following explanation.

¡°The central government likes to see rapid economic growth. Local governments think building high risers is good. It wins them political favour. It also gives lots of opportunities for corruption. For them, it¡¯s a win-win situation. There are lots of kickbacks for all those involved. This is extremely common. Local governments love to grab land and they love construction. Even if grabbing land brings no tangible benefits for the people, even if construction is not needed, they don¡¯t care. Seized land sometimes sits idle for years while farmers have no land to grow crops.¡±

Farmers¡¯ voices are not heard

Many peasant farmers come to Beijing to file petitions. They complain to higher government offices about their losses. Local governments set up check points at train stations and highway tollgates to block the petitioners. When that fails, they send officials to Beijing to round them up and lock up the leaders when they return home. In October 2004, 180 petitioners from Dingzhou came to Beijing and were escorted back by local government officials. Their leader, Zhao Jianxue, spent the rest of the year in a local police station.

Other farmers have organized themselves, put together evidence and seek legal help from lawyers. They use law to fight for their rights and to demand proper compensation. As their lawsuits find their way through a legal system that¡¯s controlled by the same government, more lands are taken from them. Even if the court rules in their favour, the rulings are totally ignored and the bulldozers continue to roll in. A few months after the court verdict came to the farmers of Nanping outside of Chongqing in 2004, the first forced eviction shocked the village, more followed.

The State-controlled Chinese media is not allowed to report cases of land dispute. According to colleagues working for Chinese media, coverage of land dispute is on the ban list from the propaganda department. Farmers constantly wonder why their stories never make it to any news publications after reporters have carried out intensive interviews with them.

Violent clashes are inevitable

As they are forced out of their land all across China, more and more farmers set up defensive schemes and refuse to go quietly. In recent months, cases of land dispute have surfaced in Sichuan, Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangsu, Hebei and Guangdong. When farmers realize they have nowhere to turn for justice, they take matters in their own hands and resort to head-on confrontations.

A month after the deadly battle in Dingzhou, the 6 bodies of the dead were still kept in freezers. Their families and relatives guard the bodies 24 hours a day, armed with knives and spears, prepared to fight again. They are determined to win justice and to protect their land.

At Nanping, farmers whose houses were forcefully demolished put up banners across their land that read ¡°Commemorate our dead brothers in Dingzhou¡±. They told the BBC that even if all their houses are knocked down; they will pitch tents on their land and defend it with their lives.

China has the largest rural population. More than two-thirds of its total population are rural. With all the on-going mass unrest and more fierce clashes brewing throughout the country, China¡¯s much stressed stability is inevitably threatened and a ¡°harmonious society¡± seriously challenged.

(The BBC approached the State Council, the Agriculture Ministry and the State Assets Ministry in the course of this research. No one agreed to an interview regarding the land issue) (boxun.com)