In the picture here, thousands of farmers in Yuxi‘s Hongta District in Yunnan Province became urban citizens after their land was seized for vanity projects. Landless now, these former farmers mostly live on up to 30,000 yuan of land compensation and a meager 10 yuan/month stipend.
Most people cannot afford to see a doctor in case of illnesses, especially old residents who do not have any skills and other sources of income. Although living in a better condition, but having to buy vegetables and food is only making their living standards worse.
And young people, mostly without a job, kill their time by playing mahjong or poker and gambling away a couple of packs of cigarettes a day. That is their only joyful entertainment.
Technorati Tags: corruption, land rights
But a handful benefit immensely from the lost land, first sold to Hongta Group, the local tobacco giant, to build a college campus affiliated with Yunnan University. Among the beneficiaries is Li Ziyun (李自云), the village chief who stashed most of a total 50 million yuan of land compensation away from the eye sight, and pockets, of 7,000 villagers.
Li built two spacious and finely decorated houses (see second picture), spending 100-200,000 yuan on decoration and roof-top gardens. He said he borrowed most of the money for his houses. [Full Text in Chinese]
