Despite all of the progress that China has made in the last two decades the country remains deeply troubled.  I once described, and accurately I believe, China as a feudal society to which had been applied a veneer of modernity.  The greivences of the people are the same as they have been for the past hundred plus years and they show no sign of abaiting.

From the Yomuiri Shimbun: Chinese villagers seize city hall / Frustration at corruption spills over in southern village of Xiantang.

     Residents of a small village in southern China infuriated by corrupt municipal government officials have illegally occupied a municipal office building for three months.

     While Chinese President Hu Jintao continues to repeat his pledge to build a harmonious society, people around the nation have been unleashing pent-up frustrations, of which the building occupation is just one example. The timing of these protests has worried authorities who are nervous about any social unrest that might cause problems in the run-up to the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress on Oct. 15.

     The village of Xiantang is located in the west of Shunde district in Foshan, Guangdong Province. The district is home to many Japanese-affiliated automobile parts makers.

     With farming being the main source of income in the village, most of the 3,500 residents there are poor. In the impoverished surroundings of the village, the sight of the grand five-story government building in the center of Xiantang is incongruous to say the least.

     The illegal occupation of the building was triggered by the municipal government's refusal to disclose its accounting records. Villagers suspect the mayor and government officials misappropriated public funds for the construction of the government building.

     China is a massive explosion of public outrage and discontent waiting to happen yet again as it did in 1989.  If that happens again can the Chinese government afford to act as ruthlessly as it has in the past?  I do not believe so, to do so today would to be invite economic and political repercussions that would destroy the one thing that currently holds China together, economic prosperity in the cities, without which the Communist regieme would be doomed.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 01:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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