Students seek for law to rule on demolitions
Source: Xinhua |
December 4, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO Chinese doctoral students are using the power of the Internet to protest the forced demolition of their families' houses in rural China and call for laws to protect other families faced with losing their homes.
Meng Jianwei, majoring in microelectronics at Shanghai's Fudan University, and Wang Jinwen, majoring in law at Beijing's Tsinghua University, have been recording their families' experiences online and attracting support from ordinary citizens as well as attention from officials.
Their campaign began, tragically, on October 30 when Meng's father was beaten to death by a gang of hired thugs.
According to a local government report, Meng Fugui was killed and one other person wounded while houses were illegally demolished in Guzhai Village, Jinyuan District, in Shanxi's provincial capital of Taiyuan.
A gang of at least 10 thugs attacked Meng Fugui to drive him out of his house.
The father had supported his son's study by selling bean curd.
Meng Jianwei returned to his hometown on hearing of his father's death and the demolition of the family home. He then wrote about it on the Chinese social networking site Renren.
He wrote he could not accept losing his father, who was a strong man in good health.
His first entry garnered wide attention, attracting more than 3,000 readers and 118 supportive responses.
One said that the violent acts demolished not only the farmers' houses but also the people's hearts.
Meng Jianwei began writing an online diary every day to record the case's progress.
On November 2, five suspects were detained. Seven days later, another 12 suspects were detained. On November 13, five local government officials were removed from their posts or severely punished.
At the same time, senior local government leaders visited his family and promised to punish the criminals.
The words "Meng Jianwei" and "demolition" give 68,300 results when searched in Baidu, a Chinese search engine. There are 13,600 results with the words "Wang Jinwen" and "demolition."
Wang wrote a letter on November 17 to the mayor of Weifang City in east China's Shandong Province, Xu Liquan, after his family's house in Beisanli Village in Weicheng District, Weifang City, was demolished early that morning.
Wang questioned the mayor about the legality and rationality of the demolition in his letter, which he posted online.
The letter triggered heated discussion, and senior local government officials traveled to Beijing to meet Wang.
Wang and Meng said being doctoral students at prestigious universities helped their cause.
They said they wanted the law to regulate demolition procedures. Because of the absence of regulations, demolition has become a source of conflict in China as the nation urbanizes.
China's home demolition regulations were abandoned in 2007, as they contradicted the principles of property law. Judicial experts are working on a draft law.
Meng Jianwei, majoring in microelectronics at Shanghai's Fudan University, and Wang Jinwen, majoring in law at Beijing's Tsinghua University, have been recording their families' experiences online and attracting support from ordinary citizens as well as attention from officials.
Their campaign began, tragically, on October 30 when Meng's father was beaten to death by a gang of hired thugs.
According to a local government report, Meng Fugui was killed and one other person wounded while houses were illegally demolished in Guzhai Village, Jinyuan District, in Shanxi's provincial capital of Taiyuan.
A gang of at least 10 thugs attacked Meng Fugui to drive him out of his house.
The father had supported his son's study by selling bean curd.
Meng Jianwei returned to his hometown on hearing of his father's death and the demolition of the family home. He then wrote about it on the Chinese social networking site Renren.
He wrote he could not accept losing his father, who was a strong man in good health.
His first entry garnered wide attention, attracting more than 3,000 readers and 118 supportive responses.
One said that the violent acts demolished not only the farmers' houses but also the people's hearts.
Meng Jianwei began writing an online diary every day to record the case's progress.
On November 2, five suspects were detained. Seven days later, another 12 suspects were detained. On November 13, five local government officials were removed from their posts or severely punished.
At the same time, senior local government leaders visited his family and promised to punish the criminals.
The words "Meng Jianwei" and "demolition" give 68,300 results when searched in Baidu, a Chinese search engine. There are 13,600 results with the words "Wang Jinwen" and "demolition."
Wang wrote a letter on November 17 to the mayor of Weifang City in east China's Shandong Province, Xu Liquan, after his family's house in Beisanli Village in Weicheng District, Weifang City, was demolished early that morning.
Wang questioned the mayor about the legality and rationality of the demolition in his letter, which he posted online.
The letter triggered heated discussion, and senior local government officials traveled to Beijing to meet Wang.
Wang and Meng said being doctoral students at prestigious universities helped their cause.
They said they wanted the law to regulate demolition procedures. Because of the absence of regulations, demolition has become a source of conflict in China as the nation urbanizes.
China's home demolition regulations were abandoned in 2007, as they contradicted the principles of property law. Judicial experts are working on a draft law.
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