Shady Details Emerge in Pingdu Arson Case

Shady Details Emerge in Pingdu Arson Case

04-08 14:10 Caijing

Fraudulent expropriation procedures abound, and violence has often accompanied the process of land collection. The Pingdu case can be looked at as an unfortunate sample of Chinese-style land acquisition.

By staff reporter Yin Yue

In China’s latest deadly land requisition dispute, a tent erected by farmers on land expropriated by a local government and sold to developers caught fire early on March 21 in Dujiatuan village near Pingdu, a city in Shandong Province, causing the death of one farmer and injuring three others. The following day, the local government cremated the body of the deceased victim and declared that the land acquisition had been carried out legally.

Dujiatuan is home to 197 families, 646 people, and 318.6 mu (21.24 hectares) of arable land, of which approximately 134.37 mu (9 hectares) are involved in the land dispute. The Pingdu Land and Resources Bureau produced documents stating that the land was re-categorized from agricultural land into construction land in 2006. However, it was not until early spring 2013 that villagers in Dujiatuan were notified that the land had been sold to developers for the "Century City" project.

“We know that the land requisition cannot be stopped, but shouldn’t there be some compensation?” asked local villager Wang Xia. On March 4, 2014, the villagers were told by the Pingdu Letters and Visits Bureau that the matter “may not be able to be resolved within 60 days.” And when they petitioned villager committee director Du Qunshan for land requisition funds March 5, Du replied that policy from higher authorities “prevented funds from being distributed.”

From that day onwards, the villagers began setting up a camp to block the developer from entering the construction site. On March 12, villagers pooled together around 7,000 yuan to purchase tents, metal frame beds and bedding, and began taking turns standing guard around the clock. In the early days, each day at least dozens of villagers would stand guard around the tents, and at night seven or eight younger volunteers would take care of the night watch. However, in the later days, the villagers let down their guard, and only a handful of older villagers would remain at the site overnight.

Geng Fulin, Li Zongnan, Li Delian, and Di Yongjun were the only four villagers guarding the camp on the evening of March 20 when the tents were set ablaze.

Later information indicated that the perpetrators opened up the curtains to pour gasoline inside the tent and around its four corners. Geng Fulin, 73, was sleeping on a bed close to the ground near the entrance. Geng had previously been hospitalized after having a stroke. With his ability to walk limited, he failed to survive the attack.

On the evening of March 25, Pingdu police announced they had arrested seven suspects in the arson case. Police stated that Wujiatuan village committee head Cui Lianguo, along with Du Qunshan, masterminded the attack and ordered four men to set the tent on fire. Cui is a relative of Du Qunshan, which is why he was selected as the contractor for the Century City project. Cui was also related with some other forced demolitions in projects he contracted before. 

According to reports, in the past five years the Pingdu government has requisitioned over 180,000 mu (12,000 hectares) of farmland. Fraudulent expropriation procedures abound, and violence has often accompanied the process of collection. Caijing found more than a dozen cases of local farmers who suffered injuries or were crippled after opposing land acquisition or forced demolition. The Pingdu case can be looked at as an unfortunate sample of Chinese-style land acquisition.

Full article in Chinese: http://magazine./2014-04-07/114075378.html