In the recent years, local governments in China have launched innumerable land seizure projects, in order to obtain farmland from farmers and resell it for commercial use. However, they tend to occupy the land by force instead of buying it from the farmers at a reasonable price. Inevitably, conflicts between farmers and the local government occur and sometimes culminate in severe conflicts. On 13 May, a farmer from Dingyuan Town, Yuzhong Country, some 25 Km from Lanzhou City, the capital of Gansu Province, attempted to burn himself, when the police drove a bulldozer into his farmland without his consent. He had placed containers of petrol and gas on his land and after five hours mutual confrontation, was detained. His nephew, who took a few pictures of the scene, was also taken away. The day after the conflict, CLB interviewed the farmers eldest brother and discussed the government's violation of farmers rights in this case. Here is the first part of the interview.
Han Dongfang [Han]
When did the conflict originally occur? Would you mind telling me from the beginning?
Villager:
Sure I can tell you.
Han:
When did it begin?
Villager:
It was in July or August 2002 - the government wanted to take away our land.
Han:
Which level of government?
Villager:
The order came from the county and the Dingyuan town governments. The town government and our village chief came to talk with the villagers about compensation.
Han:
Did they say what the land would be used for?
Villager:
I asked the official at that time, What would you do with our farmland? And they said they would build a power-substation.
Han:
Power-substation?
Villager:
Yes.
Han:
Did they tell you about the compensation for an acre of farmland?
Villager:
The compensation was 25,000 Yuan.
Han:
How did they come up with that 25,000 Yuan figure?
Villager:
The criteria
the buyer of our land set that price and lets say, you are the buyer and we the farmers havent met before. We have no idea who would buy our land, we simply had no idea. The agreement was made between the village chief and the buyers, so we couldnt find out what the real price the buyers would pay was - it could be 100,000 Yuan, 80,000 Yuan, we simply didnt know.
Han:
That means you didnt know the price [the buyer would really pay for] for your land?
Villager:
No, we didnt! We never met the buyers, we never bargained with them, we knew nothing. No transparency here.
Han:
Is your Jiangjiaying Village far from Lanzhou [provincial capital]?
Villager:
Our village is 25 Km from Lanzhou, not far. This is the future development zone of Lanzhou.
Han:
That means it will become an expensive area in the future?
Villager:
Sure! It is the best location of Yuzhong County, a supply base of vegetables. We have some of the biggest cold storages here. In summertime, the south sends vegetables to our villages and lots of vegetables are from [meaning unclear storage?]
Han:
It has large cold storages for vegetables?
Villager:
It is a vegetables storage base. We have three, two big ones and one small one.
Han:
Is it the reason that the land is worth quite a lot?
Villager:
Right, it should be worth a lot. I am 47 years old now, when I was in the high school [early 1970s], our place contributed its production to the country and from the 1,000,000 Jin [I Jin = 500 Grams] Dingyuan Country contributed, 480,000 Jin was from our Jiangjiaying Village, at most, our village alone could contribute 520,000 Jin.
Han:
Is your land very fertile?
Villager:
Oh yes, very good land. We have good irrigation and it used to be expensive before the land reform, during the old China era [pre-1949].
Han:
So did farmers lead a better life before 1949?
Villager:
Oh yes!
Han:
Because of the good irrigation and fertile land?
Villager:
Right, we have good water supply.
Han:
When the village chief and county government told you about the land seizure, did the farmers discuss with them the compensation terms?
Villager:
Of course we did, more than once, I would say about 100 times already.
Han:
With whom?
Villager:
At first, the county government, village chief and the secretary of the village committee came to talk to us and asked us to sign the contract at a compensation of 25,000 Yuan. Of course we didnt agree! You know some years ago when the vegetable storage sites were built, an acre of land, in a 30 year contract cost 45,000 Yuan.
Han:
45,000 Yuan? To whom?
Villager:
To the farmers.
Han:
You mean to the sub-contractors of the land?
Villager:
Yes, right! To the farmers. I am a farmer; it meant that sum was given to me. When the contract expires 30 years later, the land would be returned to us. When the land gets more expensive later, we could sign a new contract, so on and so forth, and when it gets even more expensive, they could sign a few years contract and pay us like 2,000 Yuan a year.
Han:
Did that 45,000 Yuan go to the village committee or the farmers?
Villager:
To the farmers themselves, but it was some time ago, not anymore.
Han:
So in the previous land seizure project, did the compensation, i.e. 45,000 Yuan per acre really go to the farmers?
Villager:
Yes, the money did go to the farmers.
Han:
Didnt it
.
Villager:
No, it was paid to the farmers.
Han:
So did you set up your price based on this standard or criteria?
Villager:
Yes the same standard, it is in fact the price of land ten or eight years ago. Our county includes Xiejiaping, Jiangjieying, Dingyuan County, Zhanglaoying, Zhusuiying, all together five villages as one development zone. There is another development zone called Heping, in the same category as ours and the land price is 49,000 Yuan to 50,000 Yuan per acre.
Han:
Did you raise your demand?
Villager:
Sure, we did that long ago. Village officials came to persuade us [to accept the 25,000 Yuan compensation], then the town officials came, but we refused to sign. At last, the county government came.
Han:
How much did you demand?
Villager:
We wanted the same price as the Heping Development Zone - 49,000 Yuan.
Han:
Per acre?
Villager:
Right. And you know, Heping Development Zone used to be non-irrigated land till recently when the Yellow River brings floods there and it has become irrigated land.
Han:
What did the county and village governments say after you raised the demand?
Villager:
They said, We couldnt make it. I asked them, who decided on this land price? Was it the county government? and they didnt reply. I asked the cadres from the county officials if they had to eat, if they had to survive, and if we farmers had to eat too. I asked the county chief, if he always earned
for example, 2,000 Yuan monthly and suddenly, he received 1,800 Yuan or 1,500 Yuan this month, would he ask if his workload had been lessened, would he ask why he earned less then? There are lots of messy things going on about the land price.
Han:
Finally did they refuse your demands?
Villager:
Right, they refused. We still dont know who wants to occupy our land, we havent met them.
Han:
You havent met the buyer of the land?
Villager:
No, nothing we could do. Who wants our land? Which department is he from? We went to the Land Office to ask. The office chief, Zheng Shaowu, claimed that the Land Office hadnt been involved in the land seizure and had no information to provide. They [officials] kept forcing us to give up our land and we refused. So they asked help from the county government and the Land Office and after some communications, they posted a fake official document in our village, that document is still here. Our lawyer told us
Han:
Did they show you a document?
Villager:
Yes, the posted document was approved by the Land and Resources Bureau of Gansu Province, with approval from the Provincial Planning Committee. I hired a lawyer to check this and when he talked to people from those two departments, they said they didnt know such a thing [the existence of the document].
Han:
Was it a false document?
Villager:
Right, they tried to fool the farmers because they thought we were uneducated.
Han:
What made you think of seeking legal advice?
Villager:
I joined the army after high school and I studied quite well during my military service, I was even a class-chief. I also helped transporting bombs to the battlefield, to the Zhan River. I got some credits and spent six years in the army until I couldnt be promoted any higher. I often watched the Focus Interviews from CCTV, to learn from news reports about the law and rules. I do like studying.
Han:
Is that how you know some law?
Villager:
Yeah! I am quite familiar with the law. It is even common sense that the land should belong to the farmers, not only for the peasants to feed themselves. You know this country is called Peoples Republic of China and the government is the peoples government, so it must serve the peoples interests, it is the people who support the country, isnt obvious?
Han:
Where did you find your lawyer?
Villager:
He was from Fangpan Solicitors Firm, in Lanzhou City, Gansu.
Han:
What did he say when you first told him about your case?
Villager:
When he first studied the case, he was quite confident. He said, the Government, a socialist country led by the Communist Party, how could such a thing happen? The land is the root of farmers survival, its their life. If they lose the land, they would lose their livelihood. He was the director there, we employed two lawyers, one was that director of the solicitors firm and the other was a lawyer there.
Han:
Which year was it?
Villager:
It was 2002.
Han:
In 2002?
Villager:
Right, July and August, 2002.
Han:
In July and August?
Villager:
Right!
Han:
What claim did you make?
Villager:
It [the government] asked us to sign the contract, which we refused because of the low price. Yet the government cheated the farmers and even told some farmers they could discuss how much to ask without reservation but then they said that the price already set [offered] was already very high.
Han:
Was it a way to put pressure on the farmers?
Villager:
Yes, to put pressure on us.
Han:
But you were not tricked?
Villager:
No, I didnt believe it at all. I am an adult, old enough to understand those tricks. I must know who would buy our land. Why should I sign a contract with a stranger-buyer? Some farmers are uneducated and have no idea of the law, so the tricks work. They scared the farmers with if you sign it, we will pay you 25,000 Yuan, and if you dont, you wont get a penny and we will take away your land anyway.
Han:
Did they really say that if they wouldnt sign, they wouldnt get any money, nor would they be able to keep the land anymore?
Villager:
Indeed. The land seizure project started two years ago, the government kept working on us from July, August 2002. I told them I dont agree to the land seizure and why should I sign the contract?
Next Monday, CLB will broadcast the Part II of the interview.