Beijing based reporter John Garnaut has found out more interesting facts about the Dongnangang village land dispute issue, from theage.com:
Land disputes between peasants and officials are one of the most common causes of conflict in China. This case is unusual because of the scale and brazen nature of the land appropriation, lacking any of the usual “development” justifications.
But it has attracted interest among international China-watchers because of a remarkable manifesto posted on an American website three weeks ago. The letter, eloquently written in the name of 40,000 farmers in the area who had lost 100,000 hectares, said peasants were reclaiming and privatising the stolen lands — in blatant contravention of China’s constitutional prohibition against private rural land ownership.
…… The now famous letter could not have been penned by the villager whose name and phone number was attached to it, Yu Changwu, because he is illiterate, according to his son, Yu Geng. [Full Text]
