China: Troubled times at Bingtuan 106

Bingtuan 106, is in the middle of the long blue area to the south of the Tarim Basin on this map of the bingtuan. Otherwise known as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the bingtuan was set up in 1954 to secure China’s borders, and continuing access to the abundant natural resources in the area. Administratively, it is a law pretty much unto itself, answering only to Beijing, and having very little truck with regional officials who administer the civilian areas, which are home to millions of ethnic minority, Muslim, Uyghurs.

In this report by RFA’s Mandarin service (Chinese), retired bingtuan worker and petitioner Liu Xingyuan says 106 Bingtuan leader Luo Yucheng misdirected funds he said were to build a new highway. Liu, 80, has been writing letters of complaint since 1998, and has received threats and harassment from local authorities following a directive from China’s cabinet, the State Council, to sort out the issue as quickly as possible.

我们团里的这批人员，每个人要交一个月的工资，共三十五万多元，现在不知道这批钱去向了。

“We were told that everyone in the brigade had to contribute a month’s salary, making a total of more than 350,000 yuan (U.S.$48,650). Now we don’t know where that money has gone.”

不知道，财务帐上没有这笔帐。公路是修起来了，但修公路是国家拨款，而不是集资，集资是动员大家，谁愿意集谁集，他是强行扣钱的。

Asked if it had been spent on the highway, Liu replied: “We don’t know. There is no record of such a transaction on the accounts. The road has been built, but money for that should come from the government, not from contributions to a fund. A fund should be a voluntary thing, but this was a compulsory deduction from our pay.”

Liu said that in 1992, a group of 81 workers had leased the contract for a disused coal mine from the bingtuan, which regarded it as uneconomical. After the workers had put in 900 hours and produced a profit of nearly 520,000 yuan (U.S.$72,275) from the mine, the bingtuan took it back from them in October 1995 under the guise of “unifying management structures”.

赚了五十一万七千元，煤是两千多吨，还有矿井的井上井下的设备、房子、绞车、电缆电线、导轨、……车，这些钱都没有给我们算，核算都没核算就都给我们收走了。说我们是黑社会组织，说我们瞎告状。（由于管理权由兵团控制）只是分了两次红，头一年本应分七百五元（一股），为了扩大再生产只分了二百五十元（一股），第二年又分了二百五十元，就再也没有分了。

“They swindled us out of 51,700 yuan. That is the value of the 2,000 or more tonnes of coal produced, of the equipment above and below ground, our houses, vehicles, electric pylons and cables. They gave us nothing back for any of these things. They just took it away from us, and said we were an illegal organization and we were causing legal trouble when we tried to sue them. They only paid out two dividends; in the first year it was supposed to be 750 yuan per share, but we only got 250 yuan per share because they said they were expanding production. In the second year they paid 250 yuan per share in the second. After that there were no more dividends.”

Another 106 bingtuan employee surnamed Jin said:

开始的是李永发矿长和１０６团的罗玉成达成协议矿井搞股份制，１０６团当时有点收入困难，李永发矿长开一个会动员入了股份制，我入了两千块共四股，最后那一年新上个厂长朱新政，他和省上一个厂，一个书记。当时煤矿的效益很差，煤炭价格偏低，那是八七还是八九年，他们看到那时股份制煤矿虽不大，效率好，卖得很好，效益好，当时其它的大矿效益不好卖不掉，就打了一个报告，要把股份制煤矿收回，就是为了救大矿，实际上大家都反对，不大拥护。反对的人结果工作给调了……，给小鞋穿，很多人也不敢说不敢跑了，现在只有少数人在跑了。前年还是去年，刘兴元在告状，当年大矿给股东的钱没有给够，大概差了五十多万，１０６团给了一个利息，比银行利息稍高一点就把股东打发掉了。

“To begin with, the head of the mine, Li Yongfa, signed a deal with Luo Yucheng at the 106 bingtuan that the profits would be shared out among shareholders as dividends. The bingtuan ran into trouble, and Li Yongfa gave us some of the dividends. I received 2,000 yuan because I had four shares. Then they got a new mine boss, Zhu Xinzheng. He had good connections with a Party Secretary in a factory run by the provincial government. Coal mines were not doing well at the time, and the price of coal was relatively low. It was around 1987 or 1989. They saw that the coal mine under the shared structure, although it was small, was efficient and selling well. So they put out an announcement that they were buying back shares in the mine, so as to rescue the bigger mines. In fact everyone opposed this move. Those who made a fuss had their work given to other people, and life was made impossible for them. A lot of people then were too scared to say anything and too scared to run away. Only a small number of people have left. Liu Xingyuan’s lawsuit is based on the contention that the dividends fell more than 500,000 yuan short of the money that was owed. The bingtuan has paid “interest” on this shortfall, at a rate a little bit higher than the bank rate, in order to fend off the other shareholders.”

The official description of the bingtuan:

In 1949, Xinjiang was peacefully liberated. To consolidate border defense, accelerate Xinjiang’s development, and reduce the economic burden on local governments and the local people of all ethnic groups, the People’s Liberation Army units stationed in Xinjiang focused their efforts on production and construction, starting large-scale production and construction projects.

The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), established in 1954, assumes the duties of cultivating and guarding the frontier areas entrusted to it by the state. It is a special social organization, which handles its own administrative and judicial affairs within the reclamation areas under its administration, in accordance with the laws and regulations of the state and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and with economic planning directly supervised by the state. It is subordinated to the dual leadership of the central government and the People’s Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

More info from Chinese government sources, and from the Opposite End of China blog.

RFA’s Uyghur service (in Uyghur)