China’s Pearl River Delta: 40,000 fingers lost annually, 1,000 workers strike daily

Han Dongfang, labour activist-turned-expert (and former Lamma resident), who hosts RFA’s Mandarin service programme, Labor Bulletin(ZH),  says the Pearl River Delta, China’s industrial powerhouse, sees at least one major labour dispute daily. By ‘major’, he means involving at least 1,000 people.

“My figure, unofficially, shows that strikes involving over 1,000 workers happens at least once a day,” Han told reporters Tuesday at his book launch. “These strikes are self-organized (and protesting workers do) not belong to the official union,” he was quoted as saying

China: Riot at Maersk factory near Dongguan

“It is total chaos here. We don’t even know where to start,” a member of the administrative staff at Maersk Container Industri in the port of Machong, near Dongguan city.

“There are lots of broken windows. Wherever there was a piece of glass, it has now been broken,” he told RFA’s Cantonese service (ZH).

RFA’s Cantonese service interviewed the migrant worker whose dispute with security guards over lunchtime queue-jumping sparked an attack on those guards by an enraged crowd of workers, who later went on a spree of window smashing and general destruction till the early hours of the morning:

China: Mass show of sympathy over Hubei man beaten to death

Thousands of ordinary Chinese citizens have gathered outside government offices in the central city of Tianmen, Hubei province, in a popular wave of anger and sympathy following the beating to death of a man last week by law enforcement officials.

Wei Wenhua, the manager of a water resources construction company connected to the municipal government water resources department, and a member of the ruling Communist Party, was beaten to death by a dozen urban management officials, or chengguan, on Jan. 7.

The officials were angry because he filmed them, using his mobile phone camera, clashing with local residents opposed to waste-dumping on a site near their homes.

China: Dongzhou power station opened in spite of bitter protest

The villagers of Dongzhou appear to have been defeated. The Honghaiwan Power Station was inaugurated today with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Some of the villagers tried to get close to the plant, clashing gongs in protest, but the police cordon around the area held. Here are some interviews by RFA’s Mandarin service(ZH) with local residents:

Dongzhou villager surnamed Huang (woman):

“The wife of one of the detained people went to protest today and was beaten by some of the officials, and kicked savagely. She has been taken to hospital.”

Cantonese: Video of clashes in Baima village land dispute

Authorities in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan have dispatched several hundred riot police to Baima village, where a land dispute has flared into clashes with local residents.

China: Gao Zhisheng force-fed during prison hunger strike

Guo Feixiong first ran afoul of the authorities in China several years ago, as part of the legal team helping villagers of Taishi, Guangdong province, to prepare a recall case against th

eir elected village chief amid allegations of corruption during a land deal. He published a book about it, and he later reported severe beatings at the hands of police after that acrimonious, drawn-out dispute.

He was working at the time with another well-known lawyer based in Beijing, Gao Zhisheng, who lost his law license after he criticized the government for its treatment of the banned Falun Gong movement.

Reservoirs of grievance: A Tianjin land dispute

From RFA’s Cantonese service(ZH) Reporter: Bat Tzi-mo:

More than 8,000 farmers from six villages in Wuqing district of the northern port city of Tianjin have protested a massive land grab by local government amounting to around 10,000 mu (670 hectares) since 1992.

The local government has claimed it intends to build a reservoir in the nearby area, and began to requisition the land from farmers without any compensation.

Later, the farmers discovered that the land had in fact been used to develop large-scale commercial fish farms.

Cantonese: Land protest in Dongguan

A villager from Baima village, Dongguan city, Guangdong province said the local authorities used the excuse of building a university to buy their land at a very low price—8,000 yuan per mu. But later the villagers found out the local authorities resold the land to a third party at a price ten times higher than that which they compensated the villagers for. The villagers deem the compensation is unreasonable and blockaded the village committee offices in protest on Monday.

One villager told RFA’s Cantonese Service, “Almost all our villagers (about several hundred villagers) went to protest. When we blocked the committee office, the Gu On and armed police beat us. Some villagers are injured.”

Three arrested as riot police stationed in Dongzhou

Authorities in the southern port city of Shanwei have drafted large numbers of security forces to Dongzhou township and detained three local residents during police raids where tear gas was used. An eight month-old baby was taken to hospital.

Lin Jingeng and Wei Chun have been formally arrested for causing disturbances and damage to property. Wei’s husband You Zizhu was also detained, but it was unclear if he would also be charged. More than 100 police officers remained in the township late on Wednesday, villagers told RFA’s Mandarin and Cantonese services.

China: Guangxi riots over girl’s beating

Lan Yuanxian, a 16 year-old migrant worker from Anhui, was beaten up by two or three officials from the municipal management bureau of the Guilin city government, she told RFA’s Cantonese service(ZH) from her hospital bed.

The incident began outside the Ximen vegetable market in the Xiangshan district of the city when a truck wanted to make a delivery of oil to a shop there. Lan’s bicycle was parked in the way for about five minutes, for which local city management officials tried to fine her 50 yuan. Lan protested and argued with them, and was beaten up. Another woman was beaten with truncheons when she tried to stop them.

The incident sparked protests in which more than 1,000 people encircled the city officials’ cars, refusing to leave. More than 50 riot police were called in to disperse the crowd, which took about two hours.