Home » Opinion » Opinion Columns
Land deal money safer in hands of villagers than township officials
By Wan Lixin |
April 11, 2013, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NORTHERN Jiangsu Province does not traditionally lend itself to much media exposure. Unlike better known southern Jiangsu, whose township enterprises have been part and parcel of the China miracle, the northern area has long been in the limbo of oblivion, known to outsiders for its relative backwardness.
Locals still adhere tenaciously to their traditions, contented with little, quite comfortable with a backbreaking sustenance wrung from the soil, live frugally within their means, and are deeply skeptical of ostentation.
So every year is pretty much the same. At least that was my impression when I left my native home there about 20 years ago.
As the gospel of progress steals over that part of the province, however, the north begins to find itself, willy-nilly, much in the spotlight. Recently in the news is Xiangshi Village in Zhewang Town, Ganyu County, Lianyungang City, which is just an hour's bike ride from my native home in that county.
I remember the locales speak with a distinct accent more suggestive of south Shandong Province than those situated closer to the county seat.
The People's Daily reported on April 8 that there is something rotten in that township government. As early as in 2007, when 2,400 mu (160 hectares) of farmland belonging to Xiangshi Village had been appropriated for construction purposes, the township government received around 50 million yuan (US$8 million) in compensation. That amount was to be shared by the 500 households in Xiangshi Village.
For your information, Zhewang Town, now an economic engine in the county, is home to several big enterprises, including some petrochemical and steel giants.
'Benevolent' officials
Apparently the township government found it quite distressing to part with that astronomical sum, well aware of how so much money could corrupt the simple villagers.
So instead of giving a lump sum to villagers, since July 2007 the government has been doling out 1,000 yuan per mu every year.
Dissatisfied villagers took their complaints to the media.
According to Liu Bin, an official from the Department of Land and Resources of Jiangsu Province, it's absolutely against regulation to withhold the entire sum from villagers and to deliver it bit by bit.
But when the People's Daily newspaper took the matter up with Gu Shaobo, the township chief, Gu defended the withholding of the sum as stemming totally from charitable intentions.
"If the sum is given to the peasants in a lump sum, they might spend it all within a year, and then they would have to rough it in subsequent years," Gu explained, citing the traditional injunction against zuochi shankong or "sitting idle, and in time your whole fortune will be used up."
Like many officials, Gu knows how to wag his tongue.
The local farmers had been living frugally by cultivating the soil, and it's officials like Gu who turn the farm land to industrial use in a one shot deal that smacks of zuochi shankong.
Xiangshi Village is not alone in being mistreated in this way.
Other villagers compensated for land appropriation in that township also received their compensation in installments.
According to reports, the total compensation involves the transfer of more than 3,000 mu of farmland. Gu preferred to be vague about the actual sum of the compensation and where the money is.
When reminded his practice of installment payment violates relevant regulations, Gu waxed indignant. "As a Party member, to safeguard the benefits of the people, it sometimes takes a bit of courage to go against some regulations," Gu explained.
This serious violation of land transfer regulations would never have been taken seriously had villagers not taken their complaints to the national media, among them such heavyweights as the China National Radio and the People's Daily.
There are good reasons why the assumed corrupting influence of money on the landless peasants has been wildly exaggerated.
High living costs
According to statistics, last years, Ganyu County became the first among the four counties in Lianyungang to see its per capita annual rural residents income soar to 10,310 yuan, 55 percent of which from wages. In that area to build a standard two-story house can cost a quarter of a million yuan, and the costs are rising.
And what with paying for betrothal gifts for a prospective daughter-in-law, financing a wedding, and giving gift money to relatives who are sick, have their own weddings or funerals, I am fairly certain it would be easy for villagers to find legitimate use for that modest sum.
By contrast, township chief Gu has vastly underestimated the corrupting influence of money on officials. Just consider the fate of some of his own superiors.
From 1999 to 2009, three county Party secretaries in Ganyu County were successively detained and then handed over to the justice system, on charges of corruption.
That's compelling evidence that the money would be safer in the hands of the villagers than the likes of Gu.
Locals still adhere tenaciously to their traditions, contented with little, quite comfortable with a backbreaking sustenance wrung from the soil, live frugally within their means, and are deeply skeptical of ostentation.
So every year is pretty much the same. At least that was my impression when I left my native home there about 20 years ago.
As the gospel of progress steals over that part of the province, however, the north begins to find itself, willy-nilly, much in the spotlight. Recently in the news is Xiangshi Village in Zhewang Town, Ganyu County, Lianyungang City, which is just an hour's bike ride from my native home in that county.
I remember the locales speak with a distinct accent more suggestive of south Shandong Province than those situated closer to the county seat.
The People's Daily reported on April 8 that there is something rotten in that township government. As early as in 2007, when 2,400 mu (160 hectares) of farmland belonging to Xiangshi Village had been appropriated for construction purposes, the township government received around 50 million yuan (US$8 million) in compensation. That amount was to be shared by the 500 households in Xiangshi Village.
For your information, Zhewang Town, now an economic engine in the county, is home to several big enterprises, including some petrochemical and steel giants.
'Benevolent' officials
Apparently the township government found it quite distressing to part with that astronomical sum, well aware of how so much money could corrupt the simple villagers.
So instead of giving a lump sum to villagers, since July 2007 the government has been doling out 1,000 yuan per mu every year.
Dissatisfied villagers took their complaints to the media.
According to Liu Bin, an official from the Department of Land and Resources of Jiangsu Province, it's absolutely against regulation to withhold the entire sum from villagers and to deliver it bit by bit.
But when the People's Daily newspaper took the matter up with Gu Shaobo, the township chief, Gu defended the withholding of the sum as stemming totally from charitable intentions.
"If the sum is given to the peasants in a lump sum, they might spend it all within a year, and then they would have to rough it in subsequent years," Gu explained, citing the traditional injunction against zuochi shankong or "sitting idle, and in time your whole fortune will be used up."
Like many officials, Gu knows how to wag his tongue.
The local farmers had been living frugally by cultivating the soil, and it's officials like Gu who turn the farm land to industrial use in a one shot deal that smacks of zuochi shankong.
Xiangshi Village is not alone in being mistreated in this way.
Other villagers compensated for land appropriation in that township also received their compensation in installments.
According to reports, the total compensation involves the transfer of more than 3,000 mu of farmland. Gu preferred to be vague about the actual sum of the compensation and where the money is.
When reminded his practice of installment payment violates relevant regulations, Gu waxed indignant. "As a Party member, to safeguard the benefits of the people, it sometimes takes a bit of courage to go against some regulations," Gu explained.
This serious violation of land transfer regulations would never have been taken seriously had villagers not taken their complaints to the national media, among them such heavyweights as the China National Radio and the People's Daily.
There are good reasons why the assumed corrupting influence of money on the landless peasants has been wildly exaggerated.
High living costs
According to statistics, last years, Ganyu County became the first among the four counties in Lianyungang to see its per capita annual rural residents income soar to 10,310 yuan, 55 percent of which from wages. In that area to build a standard two-story house can cost a quarter of a million yuan, and the costs are rising.
And what with paying for betrothal gifts for a prospective daughter-in-law, financing a wedding, and giving gift money to relatives who are sick, have their own weddings or funerals, I am fairly certain it would be easy for villagers to find legitimate use for that modest sum.
By contrast, township chief Gu has vastly underestimated the corrupting influence of money on officials. Just consider the fate of some of his own superiors.
From 1999 to 2009, three county Party secretaries in Ganyu County were successively detained and then handed over to the justice system, on charges of corruption.
That's compelling evidence that the money would be safer in the hands of the villagers than the likes of Gu.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
