Changdian village: further notes

konjaku: because a huge fund of money was allotted to the plan for new development in Chaoyang, when the nearby village Dawangjing was demolished to build the Chaoyang New City, the villagers received generous settlements, and the “Dawangjing model” was put forward as a standard for other villages. Dawangjing villagers were offered 8100 yuan per square meter for their homesteads, Changdian villages 6000 yuan. But without having all the details, it is hard to make an exact comparison. In the Dawangjing model, the villagers also get a share in the commercial profits from the development built on their land, but there is no mention of this sort of settlement with Changdian village.
In any case, it seems that while some Changdian villagers refused to leave their homes and started a protracted effort of resistance, others accepted the proposal offered them, and moved into a multi-story residential project, Dongba Jiayuan. 东坝家园.

In this regard, Changdian previously appeared in an article in this blog dated 2010-08-22, six months after the announcement of demolition of the village. In this article, Changdian villagers have moved to the residential development in Dongba nearby, but they are having trouble adjusting to life in multi-storied residential towers. The local government is having them attend classes in a “citizen’s school”, to learn proper behavior in urban settings.

https://konjaku.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/peasants-must-learn-how-to-live-in-residential-towers/

“Jinzhan town Changdian village is one of the 50 marked up villages. Everywhere in the village are the ruins of demolished houses. It had as many as 1200 residences. One villager said in his compound he grew onions, garlic and cucumbers, among other things. In the summer he didn’t have to buy vegetables.”Now I can no longer grow anything.” He said he was unable to adjust to living in a multi-storied building.

Besides Changdian, in Jinzhan town there are three other villages  that will be demolished: Mafang, Louzizhuang, and Caogezhuang. An official involved in these operations said, in communities where displaced villagers were congregated they transplanted rice seedlings in the designated green areas, and piled up corridors with heaps of goods. To prevent these problems, they hope to transform the peasants’ ideas. For this reason, investigation and research into how villagers can adjust to urban life is a major topic in Chaoyang. The director of the citizen’s school says the next session will cover “civilized behavior in public,” divided into four topics: the public environment, public order, human relations and the public good.”

Dongba jiayuan photos:

konjaku: villagers who relocated to replacement housing also made this discovery:
After the entire village was demolished and the inhabitants relocated, villagers said that seven months later some returned to find their ancestral graveyard razed to the ground.

http://www.china.com.cn/news/law/2010-10/31/content_21238740.htm

Villager Pan Shuyao said, starting in the 3rd month of this year, demolition procedures began in Changdian village, but the day before yesterday villagers discovered that the graveyard west of the village had been flattened. Construction workers were in the process of dumping construction waste material on the site, as they were repairing a road nearby. As soon as they discovered this, that night the villagers brought six or seven of their own cars, including a BMW, a Nissan Teana, and a Volkswagon Passat to block the construction site.

This graveyard is situated at the intersection of Jinzhan town and Cuigezhuang town, on a piece of land about two thirds of an acre. According to a local person this land began to be used as a graveyard in the 1980s and 90s. There were about 80 gravesites.

A villager said that now the graveyard is covered with rubble. This site is along the road to the construction site for the residential replacement housing development Jingwang Jiayuan.The project manager, Mr Zhong said, at the time they set up their construction site, the villagers had all been relocated, and there was no sign of a grave mound, nor any gravestones.

Pan Shuyao and the other villagers said that at the time of the village demolition they were not informed that the graveyard was also going to be demolished. Now they want be able to dig up and transfer the graves to another location as soon as possible. They also plan to ask for compensation for their mental suffering.

At the time the village demolition was announced, the Changdian village production brigade secretary Wang Zhenshan refused to say whether or not the graveyard was also going to be demolished. A staff member went to the site and took photographs, and told the villagers the matter would first be discussed with Cuigezhuang town, and other leaders, before making a decision.

At 6 yesterday evening the villagers were still guarding the site and waiting for a decision.

Meng Xiansheng, a lawyer in the Beijing City Renhe office said that since rural village land is owned by the village collective, naturally the graveyard also is under village collective ownership. However, as for the structures built upon the land, if these were demolished there should be compensation, an amount adequate to move the graves elsewhere.

Zhang Yuan.

Notes: Jingwang Jiayuan is a replacement housing project for Dawangjing village.

Wang Zhenshan was later arrested for fraudulently taking demolition money and replacement housing for himself.
konjaku: Changdian village was also mentioned in the article detailing the career of Liu Xiquan. A portion of village collective land was taken over for one of Liu’s main projects, the “Crab Island Resort.” The “Around Town –Time Out –Beijing” website describes it as follows, “Crab Island is a curious out-of-town resort known for its fake beach (and for hosting this year’s INTRO music festival). But there’s an amusement park, too, with 17 rides. From a swinging pirate ship and a splash-tastic water flume for kids, to a sprinkling of more aggressive options for grown-ups – such as an 880m-long coaster, and a spinning disc of death, a la Happy Valley’s ‘Apollo Wheel’ – it’s got all your basics covered.”

http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/venue/Around_Town-Parks__Gardens/9822/Crab-Island.html

“In 1994, Liu Xiquan was reassigned as CP committee secretary for Jinzhan town. Jinzhan town was at the time one of the three poorest areas of Chaoyang. Resident’s yearly income was on average a few hundred yuan. Liu Xiquan spend several months in thoroughgoing research, then set about developing three projects: “Urban Agriculture developments,” “Crab Island Resort Island” and “Tulip Garden.” Two of these projects became very successful, giving Liu in the days to come significant credit, to boost his future career.

A collegue who knew Liu Xiquan at that time said he was completely dedicated to developing Crab Island…But as several Changdian villagers said, a section of village collective land was taken over for these two projects. The village party branch secretary rented the land out to developers, but did not give the villagers any compensation money. The dissatisfied villagers complained to a higher level of government, and went to measure the land taken for Crab Island themselves, finding it to be 22 acres, for which they had received nothing. The relevant government bureau found the villagers to be correct. The then village party branch secretary took responsibility and was transferred to another post, and has not since returned.”

konjaku: now that Changdian village has become “land held in reserve” for the future Changdian New City, certain clean-ups are underway (in 2015):

Towers of Trash Pile Up at Beijing’s Unregulated Landfills

http://weekly.caixin.com/2015-06-05/100816389.html

2015-06-08

In Chaoyang district Jinzhan town Changdian village, the Beixiao river turns southeast. On 06-03, at a spot less than 20 meters from the river, there is an old garbage landfill area of approximately 45000 cubic meters, being excavated. This is an illegal garbage dump that is in the process of being cleaned up.
On the edge of this large pit, materials brought up so far are used plastic bags mixed in with brick and stone fragments. From four to five meters down in the pit, everything is immersed in ground water. The garbage that has been dredged out of the pit is spread out to dry in the sun, waiting to be sifted through.
In this garbage, there are obviously many polluted materials which have already seeped contaminants into the ground water and the soil. Since 2006, Beijing city has undertaken to clean up these illegal landfills, of which there are close to 1000. There are still 70 at which clean-up has not yet started.

konjaku: this may or may not be different from the Refuse Acceptance Site run by a director of a demolition company on Changdian village land. If different, then there were two garbage disposal sites within a relatively small area. This seems to be indicate that when a village becomes the target of future development, in the short term it can also become vulnerable to money-making schemes (Crab island, the golf course, etc) on the one hand, and the dumping of trash, legal or ilegal, on the other.

konjaku: the faces of Dong Jinting. Dong Jinting was one of several officials arrested in connection with Liu Xiquan, and whose bio and photo shortly thereafter disappeared from the Chaoyang district government website. Later, photos of her while she was still in power have been posted, and numerous photos of her during her trial.

Photos of Chaoyang district Assistant District Head Liu Xiquan’s mistress

Author Wang Meng

Liu Xiquan is serving his sentence in jail, and these days his younger brother Liu Xiwu is shut up in his estate in Dongba, undergoing investigation. It has been leaked to the outside world that the estate, including thoroughbred horses and dogs, actually belongs to Liu Xiquan, who used it for corrupt purposes. Another person who has been taken away for investigation (2011-05) is the Chaoyang district Agriculture deputy director Dong Jinting, who is suspected of being Liu Xiquan’s mistress.

These are supposed to be photos of Dong Jinting before her fall, in a dark suit and sunglasses.

http://baike.baidu.com/view/8685906.htm

On 2012-08, Dong Jinting was convicted of misappropriating 177,500 yuan of public money, and accepting 15,000 yuan in bribes. The Beijing city court sentenced her to nine years in prison. She used the misappropriated funds mostly for beauty aids, as she enjoyed spending money on cosmetics.

Photos of Dong Jinting at her trial. It is hard to see the same person, compared to those photos, above. The intent seems to be to show someone stripped of any attributes of power and position.

konjaku: by contrast, there are no photographs of Liu Xiquan during his trial. This is clear from a Google image search of both Liu Xiquan and Dong Jinting. The dominant image of Liu Xiquan that appears is still the one of him sitting at his desk, presumably before he was arrested. Obviously, this is not the case with Dong Jinting.

Liu Xiquan image search result (Click on image for an expanded view). There is the picture of him at his desk(second from top left), and meeting with people, but none after he was charged with crimes. The fifth image from top left is of Dong Jinting.

Dong Jinting image search result. Her various attitudes at her trial are well represented.