OK, the first major mass group incident – the first widely reported one, anyway – of 2006. It’s over land use again, but this time there’s a twist. This time it’s “contradictions among the people”:
The place is in Huangpo township, Wuchuan county, Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province. There are two villages known respectively as Dameichen village and Xiaomeichan village. The prefix 'Da' means large and about 2,000 people live in Dameichen village; the prefix 'Xiao' means small and about 800 people in Xiaomeichan village. Given that they have the same suffix, one would think that the villagers are good neighbors. But they are not, and they have been historically antagonistic. Previously, they had a long dispute over farmland. In late December, the city and town officials attempted to mediate unsuccessfully.The cause of the pitched battle is a certain road to be built on the boundary between the two villages. Originally, the two villages had agreed to set up a common fund to construct a road that was about one meter wide (that is, it is a single-lane road). But Xiaomeichun decided unilaterally that the road would be 4 meters wide instead with a concrete top. The Dameichun villagers were concerned that their water source would be cut off and objected. Conversely, the Xiaomeichun villagers were also concerned that their water source would be cut off because Daimeichun wanted the road for itself.
…About 300 Dameichen villagers then gathered and marched to the construction area. They could see only about 200 Xiaomeichen villagers. The Dameichen villagers were led by women carrying hoes and pitchforks and were ready for an armed confrontation. But they were in fact being ambushed. Behind the brick wall were more than 40 Xiaomeichen villagers. These men were dressed in camouflage uniforms, they wore steel helmets and body armor, they had anti-riot shields, they had homemade rifles and they had an ample supply of homemade bombs.
When the Dameichen villagers got there, the ambushers suddenly sprung up. At certain places on the brick wall about 1.3 meters above ground level, there were openings from which the ambushers fired their rifles at the attackers. They also threw dozens of homemade bombs made from firepowder contained in glass jars that used to hold preserved bean curds.
The combatants also rolled over a small force of cops and the local Party Secretary, who tried to get between them. 24 people ended up in hospital. The people from Dameichun have now posted their own sentries at the entrance to their village.
This sort of civil conflict isn’t too unusual historically. There are Hakka villages on the South China coastline built like beehives in order to ward off attack. But it is historically a sign that civil authority is beginning to seriously erode. Well, if the Communist Party can’t stop a micro civil war breaking out, they can detain a blind lawyer protesting campaigning against family planning policies. This last via antiwar.com, which is holding a pledge week.
It should be noted that this is also a very Chinese way of settling matters.
When I was in China back in the early 80s I witnessed numerous fist fights and outright street brawls. The thing that got me was how the cops, rather than intervene as they would elsewhere, would just sit back with the other rubber-neckers that quickly gathered around.
The fight would just be allowed to go until the participants had exhausted themselves.
Posted by: John Hardy | February 06, 2006 at 11:33 PM