Village protests have been taking place in Wukan village, Guangdong, since the end of September, as locals are disputing the selling of their collective lands to a real-estate enterprise. In recent days, as more demonstrators were detained, and one even died, the dispute has reached a climax. Foreign jounralist argue about the implications of this incident, whether it calls into question the entire regime or is merely a local economical issue. The Chinese media is here, like in other articles, not (or not completely) ignoring the topic.
乌坎村村委会(Wukan village committee)将一块集体土地[1]卖给地产开发商[2]，几年来贩卖3200亩[3]土地，卖地款项[4]达七亿多元人民币，而补助款[5]只有500元，其余全部被当地官员私吞[6]，盗卖村民土地 的港商[7]陈文清，他是广东省(Guangdong province)人大代表[8]。当地居民上访[9]无果，近期仅存[10]的一块土地被卖给地产开发商，激发当地人于21日游行示威[11]，22日派出军警镇压而最终引爆骚乱[12]。
调查显示，中国每年民众集体维权[13]的"群体性事件"多达十余万起。中国社科院(China Academy of Social Sciences)表示，自20世纪90年代起，中国农村的重大事件中65%为侵占土地[14]问题。
9月21日三四千人前往请愿，当天政府没有表态；22日上午百多名武警[15]驱散正在集会的市民，10多人受伤。24日由乌坎村全体村民推选的13位代表与政府提出3项诉求。陆丰市委(municipal committee of Lufeng city)作了答复，村民代表对答复表示满意。至26日，事态得到平息[16]。
从事件本身看，一是当地人甚至有"保障人权"这样的口号，表现出当地农民的公民意识[17]。二是积极参加抗争的人大部是青年人，他们让抗争开始利用高科技(High-tech)手段。
虽然广东政府采取了一些缓解社会矛盾的措施，却未能阻止乌坎事件的发生和发展，出乎了领导者的判断力[18]，应引起高程度关注和思考。
Wukan village committee is collectively selling land to a developer company. In recent years, 2112 acres were sold, in a sum reaching more than 700 million RMB. only 500 RMB was subsidized, while the rest was embezzled by local officials, stealing and selling local land to Hong Kong businessman Chen Wenqing, who is a People's Congress representative of Guangdong province. Local residents have repeatedly appealed for help of authorities, without achieving it. As the last remaining collective land was sold to real-estate enterprise, resident went to demonstrate on December 21, and on the 22 police was sent to repress, though it eventually ignited the turbulence.
Surveys show that in each year, China has more than 10,000 'crowd incidents' of masses collectively protecting their rights. China's Academy of Social Sciences shows that since the 1990s, 65% of big village incidents have to do with the issue of seizing land.
Previously, in September 21, about 3-4 thousands of people have presented a petition; on the 22 in the mornings, more than a 100 policemen broke an assembly of townspeople, and more than 10 people were injured. on the 24, 13 representatives were chosen by Wukan village to hand in 3 appeals to the government. The municipal committee of Lufeng city has replied, the village representatives were satisfied, and on September 26 things have quieted down.
The incident itself shows that: 1. Even if the local people's slogan is 'protecting rights', this incident shows local peasants' awareness of their civic obligation. 2. Most of the people who resist energetically are youngsters, who enable the resistance to use high-tech means.
Although the Guangdong government has taken steps to relieve the conflict, they couldn't prevent the development of the Wukan incident, which should lead to a high degree of attention and reflection.
[1] 集体土地 jítǐ tǔdì - Collective/shared land [2] 地产开发商 dìchǎn kāifā shāng - Real-estate developing enterprise [3] 亩mǔ - Chinese land measuring unit = 1/6 Acre [4] 款项 kuǎnxiàng - Sum of money [5] 补助款 bǔzhù kuǎn - Subsidy [6] 私吞 sī tūn - Take all of, embezzle [7] 港商 gǎng shāng - Hong Kong businessman [8]人大代表 réndà dàibiǎo - Representative of China's People's Congress [9] 上访 shàng fǎng - Appeal to high authorities [10] 仅存 jǐncún - The only existing, the last [11] 游行示威 yóuxíng shìwēi - Demonstrate [12] 引爆骚乱 yǐnbào sāoluàn - Ignite turbulence [13] 维权 wéi quán - Protect rights [14] 侵占土地 qīnzhàn tǔdì - Seize of land [15] 武警 wǔjǐng - Armed police [16] 平息 píng xī - Quiet, resolved [17] 公民意识 gōngmín yìshí - Civil awareness, civil responsibility [18] 判断力 pànduàn lì - Judgment |