I was reading Southern Weekend’s investigation into the Weng’an region: the common wisdom now is that the problems didn’t begin or end with the June 28 incident, but that the latter was merely what happened when long simmering problems reached the boiling point. This report about a place called Jiang Jie He Village (瓮安县龙塘乡江界河村), where there has been a long-standing antagonism between the local government and the people.
The situation is this: the village was moved because of a hydropower project (dam), and as you might imagine, the compensation became the focal point for the villagers affected. They were offered a lump sum of around 18,000RMB. The villagers asked why people in other villages and counties were offered more–500rmb per square meter, for example, when they were only given 232. For every orange tree they lost, people in neighboring places were given 1000 rmb, while the people in Jiang Jie He were only given 100 rmb per tree.
The stand-offs predictably became violent, and the villagers gathered en masse. They held a couple of gov’t cars hostage, and eventually the government brought in 400 police. Thirty-four villagers included women and children were injured. Some of the injured sought treatment in local hospitals and were refused. Many of them had to treat themselves or cross the river and go back home. Incidents like these were not rare.
The article also mentions the effect of sulfur mining. The mining began in 1998, and sometime around 2003, the water levels in the soil began to drop, which made it difficult for the peasants to irrigate their fields. Furthermore, local sources of potable water began drying up, or the water would turn murky white. In fact there are loads of different kinds of mines all around Weng’an:
除了磷矿之外，瓮安还拥有煤、铁、硫铁、铅、锌、铝、硫磺、硅石、重晶石、钾页岩等矿产。这些矿产遍布瓮安，因此各地矿群纠纷不断。而多数时候，当地政府都是出动警力，采取高压手段.
Another problem they have over there is general lawlessness: illegal or “black” taxis, gambling dens, etc. Most of the young people are in some form of gang. The police report that members of at least six gangs were involved in the June 28 events. The article says that women have their own “gangs,” one of which is called the “Auntie Society” (姨妈会).
I haven’t read this article that in-depth, but it does manage to paint an interesting and much more subtle picture of Weng’an and the surrounding areas than we got at first. While other media outlets mention it mostly as some kind of vague anti-CCP anger, there is so much more in it. There are criminal elements, general lawlessnes, and yes, anger at the government that seems to be good at ignoring certain problems and exploiting other problems to their advantage. I don’t envy the people that have to live there.
