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Long road for petitioners coming to end
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WHAT some people call “the only road” to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, where ordinary citizens lodge complaints with the central government over local officials, is going away.
Under new regulations issued by the bureau last week, those who trudge from their hometowns to Beijing, as many have done over the past three decades, won’t find an avenue in the capital city for their appeals. Under the new rules, “skip-level” petitions, where people go straight to the central government for redress, will no longer be accepted from May.
The “holy” road, called Xingfu or happiness, is by no means what the street name implies. Along the road in Beijing, nearly 1.5 kilometers from where the State Bureau for Letters and Calls is sited, dozens of visitors live outdoors with their worn-out quilts, broken bowls and smelly food, as if displaying their persistence in trying to defend their rights, often for years. Many of them are petitioning for redress after having their homes seized for land development.
Then, a whole, somewhat sophisticated business chain has formed to cater to the people who come there. One can find cheap accommodations — from 10 yuan (US$1.64) to 150 yuan per night. Also for rent: a bed made from a wood block inside a van, where you can sleep with other people for 15 yuan per night.
But most well-known is a yard called “the camp for letters and calls,” populated by scores of people. The special “camp” provides quasi-legal services to the petitioners, including filling out forms and writing the materials that express their problems. The cost is about 300 yuan for each case. The paperwork usually can be done in half an hour.
There are also envelopes addressed to major governmental officials, complete with their addresses, available to petitioners.
Wu Jiazhen has lived in the community on Xingfu Road for nearly three decades. Since her retirement in 2001, she has been in charge of security in this community.
“A decade ago, there were few petitioners here,” Wu recalls. “But the condition is different now, especially compared with its size.”
Since the inter-city bus station in Beijing’s South Station was built, transportation to the capital city has become more convenient from other cities and small villages.
More and more petitioners are coming to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls to complain about local injustices. People show up, in particular, during vacation times, big festivals or important political meetings.
“Sometimes the local officials have to stop these people from traveling to Beijing,” Wu says. “They will live in a nearby hotel and try to persuade these petitioners to go back. Those who stop the petitioners actually are concerned about turning them back because there are so many petitioners here. They do not want to raise their wrath.”
In addition to the cheap rent, convenient transportation and services, perhaps the main attraction of this community is a kind of collective belonging.
Yang Huicheng, who has come to Beijing four times, says he met many petitioner friends here.
“Each time I came here, I inquired with them about the new policy and recent attitude toward petitioners,” Yang says. “This information is quite helpful.”
Every petitioner has his or her own story about regional injustice. Some are reasonable and some are not. Some are sad and some reflect obvious paranoia. But they share one thing in common — a hope to resolve their problems with the central government authorities that might hear their words.
But often the road goes quickly from hope to desperation.
For example, 74-year-old Tian Kaifeng came to petition the authorities in Beijing 14 years ago. She forgets how many times she stayed on Xingfu Road, but she is sure about one thing: She has spent tens of thousands of yuan, presenting her family’s total savings.
The same is true for Yang. When the man decided to come to Beijing in 2011, he used up more than 100,000 yuan that he accumulated through hard labor over the years. Now he and his 6-year-old daughter live on a basic monthly living allowance of several hundred yuan from the local government.
“Every day I used nearly 40 yuan for food and accommodation,” he recalls. “I also needed money to print the materials. Now before the related government could give me a satisfactory answer, I ran out of money and I had to go back home.”
Due to all the stress and uncertainty, Yang’s wife finally left him and his daughter.
“The longer they stayed here, the more the budget, and finally this became their tragedy,” says Wu, the Beijing native. “I have seen several people who haven’t gone back to their homes for over 10 years. Some even haven’t met their family members in the past decade.”
All this is set to come to an end. Last Wednesday, the State Bureau for Letters and Calls announced it would no longer receive any case that has bypassed lower levels of letters and calls. If the local authority can’t handle the petitioner’s problem, the case must be moved to the legal system starting May 1.
Yu Jianrong, a scholar who has researched on the petition system for years, once lived on Xingfu Road for a month in 2004.
“Ideally, this (the new regulations) will decrease the number of petitioners to Beijing,” he says. “But I believe that many of them will still come here, because they rely on such a system out of habit. Of course the size of the community will gradually reduce, but it demands a certain process.”
Some of the petitioners are preparing to pack up their meager belongings and head back to their hometowns. But Yang has his own logic.
“If my problem can’t be solved by the local government, I will be back here,” he vows.
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