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The Wukan protests, also known as the Siege of Wukan, was an anti-corruption protest that began in September 2011, and escalated in December 2011 with the expulsion of officials by villagers, the siege of the town by police, and subsequent détente〔 in the southern Chinese village of Wukan (pop. 12,000). The protests began on 21–23 September 2011 after officials sold land to real estate developers without properly compensating the villagers. Several hundred to several thousand people protested in front of and then attacked a government building, a police station and an industrial park. Protesters held signs saying "give us back our farmland" and "let us continue farming." Rumours that the police had killed a child further inflamed the protesters and provoked rioting. Residents of Wukan had previously petitioned the national government in 2009 and 2010 over the land disputes. In an apparent attempt to ease tensions, authorities allowed villagers to select 13 representatives to engage in negotiations. Security agents abducted five of the representatives and took them into custody in early December. The protests strengthened after one of the village representatives, Xue Jinbo, died in police custody in suspicious circumstances.〔〔 The villagers forced the entire local government, Communist Party leadership and police out of the village.〔 , a thousand police laid siege to the village, preventing food and goods from entering the village.〔〔 Government authorities set up internet censorship against information about Wukan, Lufeng and Shanwei.〔 Wukan is a village that had often been described as being especially harmonious.〔 International newspapers described the December uprising as being exceptional〔〔〔〔 compared to other "mass incidents" in the People's Republic of China which numbered approximately 180,000 in 2010.〔 The village representatives and provincial officials reached a peaceful agreement, satisfying the villagers' immediate requests. Local Communist Party secretary of Shanwei City said that the authority of the city has been "overridden" by provincial intervention. == Background == Wukan village (population 20,000) is located in Lufeng county-level city of Guangdong province, some 5 km south ()〔Google Maps〕 of Lufeng's central urban area. The village is near the shore of the Wukan Harbor (乌坎港), which is part of the Jieshi Bay (碣石湾) of the South China Sea;〔Google Maps; Guangdong Provincial Atlas.〕 the location of the village near the southern Chinese coast lends itself well to urban development.〔 The village has enjoyed the reputation on the mainland for many years as a model village for its harmoniousness, civility and prosperity.〔 Since the abolition of agricultural taxes in 2006, local government has been increasingly raising money through land sales to the extent that this is now a primary revenue stream.〔 Conflicts between farmers and local officials have risen throughout China, often because of land seizures (or "land grabs").〔 The rate of forced evictions has grown significantly since the 1990s, as city and county-level governments have increasingly come to rely on land sales as a source of revenue. In 2011, the Financial Times reported that 40 percent of local government revenue comes from land sales.〔Rahul Jacob, (Drop in China's land sales poses threat to growth ), Financial Times, 7 December 2011.〕 Guan Qingyou, a professor at Tsinghua University, estimated that land sales accounted for 74 percent of local government income in 2010.〔Simon Rabinovitch, (Worries grow as China land sales slump ), Financial Times, 5 January 2012.〕 According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, by the end of 2011 there was a total of 50 million displaced farmers across China (from all preceding years), and an average of 3 million farmers are displaced across China per year.〔 In most instances, the land is then sold to private developers at an average cost of 40 times higher per acre than the government paid to the villagers.〔Elizabeth C. Economy, (A Land Grab Epidemic: China’s Wonderful World of Wukans ), Council on Foreign Relations, 7 February 2012.〕 There are more than 90,000 civil disturbances in China each year,〔 and an estimated 180,000 mass protests occurred in the country in 2010;〔Demick, Barbara (10 October 2011) ("Protests in China over local grievances surge, and get a hearing" ). ''Los Angeles Times'' / ''Sacramento Bee''〕 grievances are often corruption or illegal land seizures. The Jamestown Foundation offers a macroscopic explanation for the rise in conflicts: that local officials, caught between local government revenue shortfalls due to measures by central government to cool the overheated property market and their personal ratings based on their contributions to GDP growth, have resorted to undercompensating villagers for land appropriations.〔Mattis, Peter (20 December 2011). ("Wukan Uprising Highlights Dilemmas of Preserving Stability ). ''China Brief'' Volume 11, Issue 23. Jamestown Foundation. Archived from (the original ) on 5 January 2012〕 Farmland in Lufeng city has been progressively giving way to new developments. Projects in recent years have included a palatial new government building and a sumptuous holiday hotel resort that contained a row of 60 luxury villas. A glitzy new "Golden Sands" nightclub is a new attraction that brings rich visitors from out of town.〔 In 2011, villagers alleged local officials had grabbed hundreds of hectares of cooperative land and were "secretly selling" it to a real estate developer.〔Choi, Chi-yuk (7 October 2011) ("Rioting in model village attests to graft woes" ). ''South China Morning Post''〕 According to a news analysis in ''The New York Times'', China’s village committees are elected by the villagers themselves, and are thus theoretically the most representative forms of governance, yet most residents are unfamiliar with how the village system functions, and are unaware of their rights. The sale of collectivised land is supposed to require approval of the villagers under Chinese law, and the proceeds are supposed to be shared. However, the approval process lacks transparency in practice, and most decisions are taken by the elected village committee with the blessing of the Donghai township – the level of government just above Wukan. The residents of Wukan made allegations of corruption: five of the nine members of Wukan’s village committee had held their posts since the creation of the committee system by Deng Xiaoping, and the village's Communist Party secretary, Xue Chang, has been in the position since 1970.〔Wines, Michael (25 December 2011). ("A Village in Revolt Could Be a Harbinger for China" ). ''The New York Times''. Archived from (the original ) on 5 January 2012〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wukan protests」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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