Village #12 Zhengxing shequ

konjaku: Village # 12 in the Haidian district is Zhenxing shequ. Shequ ( literally, “community”) here replaces the designation of village. Since this is not about shequ as such, I continue to use the term village, for convenience.

I was only able to find the following article, which is not about the village (or shequ) as a whole, but about the problems of negotiating compensation experienced by businesses that have rented land in the villages slated for redevelopment. Usually the focus in demolishing a village is on the relocation and compensation of the village residents, not the businesses that just happen to be in the village because they have leased some land and built a factory or a production center.

In urban renovation on this scale, involving fifty villages, possibly it is just not feasible to completely compensate every business for all moving costs, loss of facilities, and the suspension of doing business while they relocate. But this article assumes it is possible and takes the position that it is the government’s responsibility. It criticizes “village autonomy,” which, as we have seen, was a major part of the Beiwu model, as a way that villagers could be assured of a say in the process, and receive a share of the profits from future development on village land. While that seems a good thing for village residents, the implications to all parties involved is unclear. To start with, it is not clear to anyone how much autonomy there is or should be in “village autonomy.”

The renovation projects are going faster than the determination of laws or rules to govern the process. But if you are transforming large sections of society in one fell swoop from one situation (village life) to a completely different one ( multi-story complexes surrounded by a green zone) could any set of laws or regulations cover every eventuality of the transition?

Village redevelopment in the Beijing suburbs: “Village autonomy” is driving out lessees
–Law specialists say a public hearing process is needed

photo: The Zhengxing village committee headquarters in 2008 (pre-demolition, photo by Zhongguancun)

http://jjckb.xinhuanet.com/2014-09/12/content_520603.htm

This reporter went to the listed up villages project office, and discovered that because of disputes over compensation rates between the village government and the businesses which have rented land from the villages operating within the redevelopment project zone, some villages governments are, under the pretext of exercising “village autonomy,” forcibly driving out tenants.

In recent years our country has energetically expanded the project of transforming old villages. However, land requisition has increasingly triggered more and more contradictions and clashes. In some places the manner of requisitioning land goes against regulations, and violates the rights of villagers and businesses which are renting the land. This leads to appeals to higher authorities, and other sorts of incidents. According to many specialists interviewed by this reporter, the process of requisitioning land in our country lacks an adequate public hearing process. In determining compensation rates, there should be an independent scientific evaluation as part of the process, and after disputes arise, the aggrieved parties lack a communication channel in the government to appeal to for justice. Thus it is extremely easy for conflicts to arise. Gradually these lacks in the system must be filled in, to protect the interests of all those involved.

Beginning in 2010, Beijing city announced the tranformation of 50 “listed-up villages,” and one of these was Zhenxing shequ in Shijiqing town in Haidian district. In the 6th month of that year, the Zhenxing village committee issued a notice informing all businesses in the affected area that they had to move out by the end of the 9th month. At the beginning of 2011, the village committee posted a notice describing the area to be demolished, and demanding that all village households within the affected area sign contracts agreeing to relocate and assenting to the compensation amount. But the announcement said nothing about the businesses and what sort of compensation they might expect.

The Shiji Tianyuan Food Corporation is a family-owned business. They signed a lease with the village corporation for a one-acre site for 30 years. The lease expires in 2026. After signing the lease, the Shiji tanyuan Food Corporation used its own capital to build a factory. After receiving the demolition notice, they stopped taking orders, and began to negotiate the compensation details, as well as preparing to move. But what the company head Ren Changru could not imagine, was that the village representative would only offer to return a few years of rent, plus moving expenses of 600,000 yuan. Ren Changru calculated the loss to his business from moving to be 15 to 20 million yuan. After negotiations through mediators, the village offered 3 million yuan, and said it couldn’t go any higher.

In the 50 listed-up villages, the land occupied by homesteads is 12 square kilometers, but that occupied by businesses –township and village enterprises — is 13 square kilometers.

Ren Changru did not accept the village compensation proposal, and now the negotiations are at a standstill, having been referred to a higher authority. Meanwhile, the Zhenxing redevelopment project is moving along vigorously. New multi-story buildings are sprouting out of the ground, and the villagers are giving up their homes and waiting to move in to these new buildings.

Ren Changru does not understand why the government doesn’t have a unified, consistent compensation standard, announced publicly for all to see. Instead, Zhenxing shequ repeatedly says this is a matter of village autonomy, “and whatever the village decides is what you get.” It is clear to him that negotiating with the village is not going anywhere, after many attempts.

The law on village autonomy stipulates that villagers have the authority to determine their own interests, including compensation. Told this, Ren Changru says there is a still a problem with Zhenxing’s actions, because they have not publicly announced anything whatever about how they are deciding on compensations, whether they have actually had an assembly to discuss these issues, what their guidelines are, and what evidence or testimony they consider in making determinations.

The other day a reporter interviewed the Zhenxing Redevelopment Project deputy, to get the village committee’s side of the dispute. The deputy said, at present there is definitely not any such unified compensation standard, but that a “higher authority” (indicating the Shijiqing town urban transformation project corporation), had transmitted the general sentiment that “the one responsible for the child is the parent” (taking the buildings and assets as the child, it is the business that built them that is responsible for them, not the village), and that they should literally reimburse businesses for the total amount of payments the business had made in the past to the village, and no more. To follow this guideline, Zhenxing shequ put out bids to hire an independent assessor, and plans to give the assessment corporation the responsibility to estimate the amount of the compensation payment.

As this reporter has come to find out, having talks with lessees to requisition their land back, in the name of village autonomy, is just another complication in an already complicated process, and leads to disputes almost every time.

To get a response on the Zhenxing shequ position, this reporter interviewed a lawyer who is a specialist in this area, and he said that the disagreement between the Shiji Tianyuan Food Corporation and Zhenxing shequ was essentially a contract dispute, and Zhenxing was trying to confuse the issue by taking it as a matter of compensation determined by the stipulations of the redevelopment project. The issue in this: when the contract is in force, and one side wants to terminate it prematurely, what are its obligations? If the contract is not a comprehensive document, if there is nothing in the contract about what to do in case of a demolition and relocation project, then one must look at the basic principles of contract law to determine both sides’ duties and obligations.

The lawyer, Li Yan said, “To put it very simply, if you rent land to me, and I build a building on that land to produce goods or operate a business; and if, before the lease has expired, you want to dissolve the contract, you should compensate me for the loss of the building, for any facilities added to the building, for equipment, etc,. But these forms of compensation have nothing to with compensation as determined in the redevelopment project, but are solely concerned with the losses experienced by the lessee because of a premature termination of the contract.”

Li Yan believes that the fact that Zhenxing shequ is using “village autonomy” as a reason to force the businesses to move, is a sign that possibly the government has not issued permission to demolish the buildings. In this listed-up villages project, there are no exact legal stipulations that cover the demolishing and relocation process. Therefore, in the past authorities at the grassroots level have sought out interrelated businesses and negotiated a compensation amount with these businesses that are within the redevelopment zone together. In such cases, the vast majority comply voluntarily. If Zhenxing shequ wants its businesses to move away, it should offer them a rationally acceptable compensation rate.

According to another lawyer, Wang Yong, in general, the compensation paid to businesses is far higher than that paid to residents, because they are reimbursed for their investment in buildings and equipment on the property. Therefore, for Zhenxing shequ to claim, “the one responsible for the child is the parent,” is to go against the law. They should follow their duty and pay back any remaining sums under the contract and a reasonable compensation.To do anything less is not equitable, and not within the spirit of the original contract.

Li Yan said the Shiji Tianyuan Food Corporation has the option to take Zhenxing shequ to court for breach of contract. Many other law specialists contacted by this reporter said, our county lacks a public hearing procedure that should be part of the process of requisitioning land. In compensation negotiations, there should be an independent and scientific means of evaluating claims. When disputes arise, peasants and businesses do not have an agency in the government to appeal to, and lack a way for the administration of justice to operate.

listed up villages 挂账村
Zhenxing 振兴
shequ 社区
village and township enterprises乡镇企业