Lufeng makes progress on Wukan problem

Lin Zulian, 72, former head of Lufeng's Wukan village, Shanwei, Guangdong province, was sentenced to three years and one month in prison on Sept 8, after pleading guilty to bribery charges.

During the hearing on the day, he was fined 200,000 yuan ($30,000) by the People's Court in Foshan's Chancheng district, for taking a bribe of 442,000 yuan ($66,190) after he allegedly used his power to help contractors undertake projects in Wukan.

He was also alleged to have accepted a kickback of 150,000 yuan when the villages purchased several ships.

Lin said that he respected the verdict and will not lodge an appeal.

The case has brought Wukan back into the international spotlight. Some villagers have raised various demands, some reasonable, some unrealistic, and the local governments of Shanwei, Lufeng and Party committees are currently playing an active role in trying to address their concerns.

As for the villagers' demands concerning land disputes and related issues, the governments have adopted a "1+7+N" land dispute arbitration platform and land registration and certification. "1+7+N" refers to the organization of one Wukan villager representative plus another seven representatives from neighboring villages plus other land experts and government representatives. Wukan village and neighboring villages will be able to solve land disputes by themselves via negotiation. While governments representatives will act as mediator and referee.

The government said that efforts have also been made to improve social welfare, housing reconstruction, employment, healthcare and setting up a long-term communication mechanism for local villagers and governments.

However the government considers some demands being made by villagers as being unreasonable, such as the carrying-out of Lin's promise to compensate each villager 480,000 yuan for their land being reclaimed. And that all disputes would fall under the consideration on Wukan, as well as that Lin should be released to solve the land disputes regardless of his guilt.

On these fronts, the government has taken steps to help villagers understand the bigger picture.

The land problem is the issue of most concern among Wukan residents, however, the governments have cleared that Lin's corruption case won't be an obstacle to the resolution of land problem and committed to solve the problem according to the law.

In September 2011, the illegal transfer of collective lands by the former Wukan village committee caused a large-scale mass incident. Most villagers were required to return their land, and the problem of the land disputes has not been solved since. Later, the problem of land disputes has never been solved even after the formation of a new committee in 2012.

The governments of Shanwei and Lufeng realized that without establishing a platform for dialogue, the land disputes problem would not be solved.

"To solve the problem of land disputes, we finally came up with the '1+7+N' platform," said Qiu Jinxiong, director of the Shanwei bureau of agriculture. As of now, the Lufeng city government has taken the lead in holding meetings between Wukan and neighboring villages. After effective face-to-face discussions, representatives on the platform have signed an agreement accordingly.

From the end of August to September, the Lufeng city government has formulated a series of guidelines and policies to facilitate the relationships between Wukan and neighboring villages, in a bid to solve the land disputes problem in an open and fair manner.

The government has also returned 3928.32 mu (261.89 hectares) of land to the village of Wukan. A further, 4,509 mu of formerly disputed land has also been returned, and Qisha village itself has returned 144.18 mu to Wukan, totalling 8,581 mu.

By end of Aug 28, a total of 31 land certificates or real estate certificates had been signed by the Wukan village committee.

Strong protection to improve livelihood

"The government has taken effective measures to strengthen the protection and livelihood of villagers," said Hong Jinzong, Party chief of Wukan.

For the villager's residential land concerns, the government has set up a special working group to promote its policies on the allocation of residential land "One family, One house" to effectively protect the villagers' reasonable demands for residential land.

On Aug 8, under the guidance of Lufeng authorities, and after a series of discussions, deliberations and comment procedures a "Wukan Residential Land Allocation Case" was formed. On Aug 22, a preliminary site for residential land was selected by the authorities. As of now, a total of 133 poverty-stricken households have been registered by the government for further effective relief measures.

For poverty-stricken families, if they live in only one house which is poorly maintained, they can apply for the housing reconstruction from the government and will have the opportunity to live in a safe house as early as possible.

Some other problems such as employment, healthcare and social allowance, have also been improved by the government. Several vocational training sessions and job fairs have been organized to increase local employment. Free medical services have also been provided for locals from time to time and an increased amount of social allowances have been issued for villagers in need.

Mechanism established to improve communication between villagers and government

Under the guidance of Shanwei and Lufeng governments, a total of 20 working groups have been established to collect feedbacksand suggestions from local villagers.

Special communication assistant working groups have also been established to help local people, including women, teachers, fishermen and students.

Representatives from the Shanwei and Lufeng governments will routinely conduct communication meetings and face-to-face discussions with Wukan villagers, in a bid to listen to the public voices and carry out the work more effectively.