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The Party’s Plans Came at the Right Time
// Chinese peasants resort to uprising
China suffered 2 peasant uprisings, largest in several last years, this weekend. First, over 10 thousand peasants in southern province of Guandun protested against the occupation of land by local authorities, and took 300 people hostage. Then, 2 thousand peasants in south-western province of Sychuan seized local hospital, blaming authorities for the poor quality of rural medicine. Police had to resort to tear gas to suppress the uprisings. Several tens of people suffered and were taken to hospital. Uprisings in Guandun and Sychuan told Beijing once again that it is urgent to turn the attention to Chinese countryside to prevent a revolution.
Over 10 thousand peasants in the town of Sanjou (Guandun province) came to the headquarters of local authorities on Wednesday, demanding they return land to them. Villagers say that over half of the 3650 hectares of land owned by Sanjou community was illegally sold to various businesses by local authorities. Officials came out to peasants and began persuading them to go home. The infuriated crowd then went to the town’s warehouses, where local officials had an official delegation at that time. The peasants surrounded the warehouses and took 300 businessmen and local officials hostage.
At night, army and police forces were pulled in to Sanjou. In the morning, police suggested that the peasants set hostages free and surrender. However, the peasants answered by throwing stones at police. Then, 1,000 policemen attacked the villagers, applying tear gas against them. The peasants began running away, the uprising was suppressed, and the mutiny’s instigators were arrested. Yet, fights and arrests continued on Friday as well.
Another uprising broke out in south-western province of Sychuan, after a 3-year-old boy died in a hospital on Tuesday. The boy’s father, one of local peasants, had brought the boy to the hospital after the child had accidentally drunk chemical fertilizer. However, doctors refused to treat the child for free, and sent the father for money. While the peasant was looking for money, the child died.
Two thousand of infuriated peasants seized the hospital, broke all windows, and demanded that authorities improve medical aid quality in the village. Local police summoned extra forces to suppress the uprising.
The recent uprisings, strongest in several last years, prove that the peasant issue in China is extremely painful. Years of rapid economic growth led to the polarization of Chinese society and to the sharp split into rich city-dwellers and 800 million poor villagers.
China’s Communist Party officials fear a peasant revolution, thus they have turned their attention to the countryside recently. Beijing plans to increase spending on the villagers’ needs by several times before 2020 by means of slowing down economic growth. At the same time, Chinese authorities have begun purging the social layer of high Shanghai party officials and business elite linked to those officials.
Yet, all these measures will bring results not very soon, while the number of uprisings is growing every year by 7 percent. Last year, there were over 87,000 mutinies. So, Beijing has only one traditional method to keep the countryside stable – using army and police.
Alexander Gabuev
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