Land disputes in China are becoming more common, intensive and pervasive. One of the most volatile areas are between farming villages and state-owned-farms. Xi Zhiyong witnessed the outcome of such a dispute in his own hometown. He tried to act as a mediator. At Dawu City, historical land disputes between Dawu Group and the state-owned-farm ultimately led to mass arrests, seizure of property and complete annihilation of family and business.
One Life for One Dream
It was the time of the wheat harvest, and just three days before I arrived something big had happened in my hometown. There had been a land dispute between a village and a state-owned farm. When farm employees arrived under police protection to harvest the wheat on the disputed land, the confrontation turned violent. Police opened fire, killing four villagers and injuring seven. In the chaos, villagers took two hostages from the other side, also seizing two handguns and a jeep. At the moment of my arrival back home, police and the villagers were engaged in a standoff at the village entrance.
The next day, I rode my bicycle to that village. At first, I just chatted with the villagers as a student, gaining their trust. Later, I spent the afternoon talking with village leaders, eventually convincing them to release the hostages. I of course promised them that I would be willing to provide them with legal advice with regard to their land dispute.
Even though I clearly told the villagers that I was only a university student and not a reporter, it still made the local government a bit nervous. That evening, the county party secretary came to my house. He claimed to be there to express his greetings and thanks, but in reality he was looking into me. I told him that he could relax and that I was acting in everyone’s common interest and merely hoped to help the two sides mediate. I later learned that while the county party secretary was visiting our house, the chief of the city public security bureau was waiting just outside the gate to our family’s courtyard.
Xu Zhiyong, June 18, 2022
https://chinachange.org/2022/06/18/one-life-for-one-dream/
During the summer there were two incidents involving land disputes between Dawu Group and Xushui State Farm. They are termed the June 21st and August 4th incidents “6.21事件”和 “8.4事件".
Seventeen Year Periodic "Circadian Rhythm"
Over the years, there were many trials and tribulations faced by the Group due to property disputes of a historical nature going back to the 1950's and more recently to an intellectual property dispute resolved at the Supreme Court. The main dispute though was between Dawu Group and Xushui State Farm which is only an organ or agent of the government; so, its actual ownership is unclear. The dispute involved land. However, despite these disputes it is indisputable that common prosperity was achieved by 9000+ employees of Dawu Group through a system that emphasized people rather than profit.
D. Carlton Rossi
December 24, 2021
Outsiders and Insiders
On the other hand, those within China place a greater emphasis on the issue of land disputes. This explains why they are most interested in the land disputes between Dawu Group (大午集团) and Xushui State Farm (徐水国营农场) which are typical of other land disputes in many aspects. Issues concerning land have been lingering or should one say festering since the time of the Great Leap Forward. One wonders why the government can't solve these issues or rather why it doesn't want to solve these issues over the span of seventy years? What possible motive may it have to prefer ambiguity over certainty? The reader will notice that while in China it is safer to request clarification by posing questions than answers through edification.
D. Carlton Rossi
February 19, 2022
The August 4th Incident 8.4事件
On August 04, 2020, the discord between Dawu Group (大午集团) and Xushui State Farm (徐水国营农场) came to a head. The "Minutes of the Public Security Bureau [2020] No. 1 Meeting of Xushui District Public Security Bureau of Baoding Municipality" and other documents suggest prior coordination, planning and preparation (behind the scenes between various authorities) for the demolition of the mobile structures and fence on the Dawu property which was to take place at 5:00 am. The whole scheme resembles entrapment.
D. Carlton Rossi
February 23, 2022
The Demolition Incidents
The trigger for the arrests and seizure of Dawu Group 大午集团 were the land dispute incidents of 6.21 and 8.4 against Xushui State Farm in 2020 which are known in Chinese as 2020年针对徐水国营农场的6.21和8.4土地纠纷. Three of the charges relate specifically to the 8.4 incident of August 04, 2020. The following abbreviated account is provided through the courtesy of China Change.
On August 4, 2020, the state-owned farm obtained the protection of a large number of police from the Xushui District Public Security Bureau (PSB) through a mere written request without prior notice to Dawu Group, without negotiating with Dawu or taking other legal approaches. The state farm personnel unilaterally demolished Dawu's enclosure and mobile houses valued at 18,000 yuan..."
D. Carlton Rossi
October 18, 2021
"Freak" State Farm
Sun Dawu's new puzzle: What is a state-owned farm?
In Sun Dawu's view, the state-owned farm is like a "freak": its business activities have nothing to do with its superiors, its profits and losses have nothing to do with its superiors, and the amount of money it makes is not handed over to the state or the government. However, the superiors will still provide various compensations to the farm according to the agricultural land (the original situation was that farmers pay agricultural tax, and the farm also pays agricultural tax; now farmers enjoy a subsidy of more than 80 yuan per mu, and the farm also enjoys it), and the farm operates in a market economy. Being conceited, I can't see what it has to do with the "country".
Sun Dawu
December 17, 2012
Trial of SUN Dawu in October 2003
Seventeen Year Periodic "Circadian Rhythm"
One might say that the period of opening up and reform on the macro scale and the common prosperity of Dawu Group as a private enterprise on the micro scale represented a kind of Paradise. However, the fall from grace for Dawu Group took place with the arrest of Sun Dawu and his two brothers on May 27, 2003. Arrest represented Hell. Purgatory began in prison and lasted until November 11, 2020 when all legal details were finalized. Paradise was revisited with freedom of the individual and group. It was reached in the establishment of the Private Entrepreneurial Constitutional System in 2004 which was a type of constitutional monarchy.
敢言民企老板遭抄家 警方拘捕30人恐涉黑入罪 - 万维读者网 2020年8月4日
Over the years, there were many trials and tribulations faced by the Group due to property disputes of a historical nature going back to the 1950's and more recently to an intellectual property dispute resolved at the Supreme Court. The main dispute though was between Dawu Group and Xushui State Farm which is only an organ or agent of the government; so, its actual ownership is unclear. The dispute involved land. However, despite these disputes it is indisputable that common prosperity was achieved by 9000+ employees of Dawu Group through a system that emphasized people rather than profit.
The year 2020 resembled the year 2003 in some respects. One similarity was the emergence of atypical pneumonia in southern China. It was classified as SARS-CoV-1 during its emergence in Guangdong Province in November 2002 and SARS-CoV-2 as it emerged in Wuhan perhaps in November of 2019. The initial government response in both cases was deceit and denial. It treated diseases as a political issue; for example, it organized neighbourhood committees as it had utilized them to control political dissent during The Cultural Revolution. People were afraid of the disease, but the government was more afraid of losing control of the people.
It is no coincidence that Sun was arrested as the disease hit Beijing in May 2003 and also after the evolved virus struck the Xinfadi market in Beijing and and then Baoding which is 150 kilometers southwest of the capital. Martial law was declared in Baoding and a wartime mechanism was imposed by the epidemic response center.
Today, the government restricts visits of lawyers to SUN Dawu on the excuse of SARS-CoV-2. However, it is more concerned how peasants, farmers, entrepreneurs and even intellectuals of China are influenced by the man considered to be the moral conscience of the nation. Incarceration merely strengthens the people's trust in The Great Noon (伟大的正午). The author's own sobriquet for him is "Twelve O'Clock High" (十二点钟高) as in the movie of the same name.
The re-descent into Hell of the decent SUN Dawu and Dawu Group began with two protests reflecting its relations with Xushui State Farm. Sun has characterized it as a "Freak Farm". They were known as the 6.20 and 8.4 incidents in the summer of 2020. By themselves they were not very important as they historically involved only 740 mu of land, but their influence was magnified as they are representative of land disputes throughout China.
The incidents were special, too, in that they are responses to land laws enacted in the commune era of Mao dating back to The Great Leap Forward in 1958. They haven't yet been adequately solved by any CCP government. Therefore, who is to blame for the incidents? It's almost an example of "original sin" of the Party as opposed to its propaganda which emphasizes "original sin" of the peasants. Peasants like Sun--and Sun still calls himself a peasant even if he is a billionaire-- commit no sin when they set up a grain bank in 2003 at Langwuzhuang to maximize and stabilize the income of farmers nor did they commit any sin when they prevented thugs from leaving who provokingly demolished a Dawu building in the August 4th incident of 2020. Sun does admit though that he made some inappropriate comments which he regrets in the aftermath of the incidents.
As a guide to the reader it may be said by the poet that Dawu Group entered Hell around midnight on November 11, 2020. Six busloads carrying 300 submachine-gun toting police and their dogs were dispatched. One can infer that the purpose was to instill terror.
The main difference though between the 2003 and 2020 arrests was in degree. In 2003, SUN Dawu was actually lured outside of the area to the Hongyan Hotel in Xushui City through a dinner invitation from a newly appointed county-party secretary. 10. The arrest was done in the light of day by plainclothes officers. If the poet recalls correctly there were many plainclothes police and unmarked cars that arrived during the day at Dawu Group in order to mop up and about 20 employees were detained. However, in the 2020 raid, The Great Noon was arrested along with about 30 senior Dawu officials by police in full tactical gear at midnight. The actions in 2003 were intended to instill fear; although, in retrospect, SUN Dawu described it as an atmosphere of terror. 10. The actions of November 11, 2020 were intended to instill terror. There is a saying by an unknown poet that reads as follows:
"When the use of fear fails
then the abuse of terror trails"
One might compare the fear and terror used in the Dawu arrests in 2003 and 2020 by contrasting the use of fear and terror in the The Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The Great Leap Forward (大跃进) was a disaster in that it caused The Great Chinese Famine (三年大饥荒) from 1959-1961 which killed between 15 and 55 million. While terror was a factor in The Great Leap Forward it would seem that fear was the dominant emotion instilled in the peasants. Generally, people died slowly of starvation. They feared death through starvation. Of course, there were many individual exceptions such as scholars who experienced terror.
However, one might say that terror was instilled in the Chinese population in the early stages of The Cultural Revolution (文化大革命) 1966-1976. The first stage of mass killings began with the Red Terror (August-December 1966). For example, it did not concentrate on poor peasants, but rather rich peasants along with four other black categories as well as "capitalist roaders" in the Party. In Qufu or the birthplace of Confucius, the graves of the Kung family were dug up by the Red Guards (红卫兵) led by TAN Houlan in order to Annihilate the Kung Family Business (歼灭孔氏家族企业) 2. The takeover of the Confucian, Dawu Group (大午集团) in 2020 is its equivalent in what might be called Cultural Revolution 2.0 with its campaign to Annihilate the Dawu Family Business (歼灭大悟家族企业).
Seven of the innocent defendants which included Sun -- who were presumed guilty until proven innocent --- were transferred to RSDL under jurisdiction of the Baoding municipal Public Security Bureau (PSB). RSDL stands for “Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location”. This means they had no fixed residence. This is unbelievable because the poet has visited SUN Dawu in his residence and listened to the words of Xi Jinping at the time of the national holiday. Now, the PSB is saying SUN Dawu didn't live there. They hastily converted a structure to a new RSDL in Baoding to inflict torture.
Normally, RSDL is temporary in nature. For example, it may last three months. However, it can be extended as it was in these cases. The duration was extended several times. It appears to have lasted from November 11, 2020 to at least July 25, 2021 or the last day of the trial. "The PSB took advantage of the law with ill-intention, and nullified the human rights protection statute by designating jurisdiction." 3.
The defendants asked to be able to transfer from RSDL or Hell to a detention center because they said under RSDL they were being tortured. SUN Dawu stated "During RSDL, I once requested to be transferred to the detention center because my treatment produced misery beyond words and life was worse than death. I went on a hunger strike for three days." 4. All defendants said "life was worse than death". 6.
The defendant Ji Weilian ( 纪玮莲) said "I could see that there were once windows in the Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL) room. I applied to change rooms, I was extremely agitated, and wanted to dig out the window. I wanted to open the door. I wanted air. I was interrogated too many times. My memory was declining." 5.
The RSDL was specifically constructed for the defendants of Dawu Group. They can hardly be called residences as there were no windows and no ventilation. The "formaldehyde level severely exceeded safety standards." 6. Formaldehyde is known to be a human carcinogen based on "higher risks of nasopharyngeal cancer and leukemia". 7. It is also used as an embalming fluid for the dead.
In other words, terror of the arrest was transforming into torture through RSDL for the defendants. Torture became a tactic of terror. During The Cultural Revolution the paramilitary organization called the Red Guards used torture through brutal struggle sessions. For example, on August 23, 1966, SHU Qingchu known as Lao She who was a communist party member and 20 other writers were transported to Beijing’s Temple of Confucius where a mob of 150 teenage girls beat them with bamboo sticks and theater props. 8.
The actual trial started on July 15th and lasted until July 25th 2021. It can be said that this was the eighth circle of Hell for the defendants. They were faced by those who claimed that the trial was open, but the visitors invited by those facing trial could not be seen. Each defendant was allowed only one visitor who was held in another room. SUN Dawu himself stated “All my family members had come, including our in-laws and other relatives, as well as employees, where are they? I want to know: Is this an open trial or not?” 3. Secondly, in the 2003 trial there were photographs allowed of the defendants which were published. No photos were allowed in the "open" court of 2021 to be published. Lawyers requested that judges recuse themselves on the ground that the court hearing was not truly public. The operative word there is "truly".
Dante and Vergil among the Falsifiers
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The Circle of the Falsifiers
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Canto XXIX Hell Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri
With points of thrilling pity, that I clos'd
Both ears against the volley with mine hands.
Together; such was here the torment: dire
The stench, as issuing steams from fester'd limbs. 9.
The outcome of the trial was never in doubt. If ever there were a predetermined result it was in the Gaobeidian Municipal Court. For example, the Dawu Group itself was on trial. However, before the trial, government working groups took over operation of the company including company seals and financial affairs. The trial and sentence merely legalized seizure and control of the company by the government. SUN Fushuo (youngest son of SUN Dawu) has not been allowed to return to his position even when he completed his sentence on September 29, 2021. He and his family are invited to Canada as the poet's guests.
While SUN Dawu has risen from Hell he may be trapped in Purgatory for 18 years. He might get an opportunity to appeal his sentence if ever again allowed to see his lawyer. SARS-CoV-2 is used as the excuse to isolate Sun. Will Purgatory reform SUN Dawu? Perhaps, if he is allowed to read "Thirty Lectures on Socialist Thinking" by Xi Jinping which he was prevented from reading in Hell while he awaited trial.
One expects though that the real impact will be on the Chinese people. They may finally realize that the same thing could happen to any one of them. If they do not have the protection of lawyers, law, police and Party then who will protect them?
Purgatory where SUN Dawu was briefly incarcerated is called Baoding Prison or should one say the whole city of Baoding (保定) itself? The poet may have visited Baoding a hundred times for various reasons. However, he found no reason to stay for more than a few hours. It is one of the most heavily polluted cities in China.
It seems though that Baoding Prison was a little too close to Langwuzhuang or Sun's birthplace for the comfort of local authorities. They wanted to get rid of him as far away as possible from potential support. The capital of Hebei or Shijiazhuang which is hundreds of miles away was too close. They went further south to a prison in the Tangshan Guye District of Xingtai (邢台); so, having spent a year in detention he will spend 17 years in prison. Xingtai is almost on the southern boundary of the province of Hebei. The poet has passed through Xingtai by bus and train on his way from Anyang, Henan to Langwuzhuang Hebei, but again, it is no place to linger.
Original Illustration for Bleak Hous
Xingtai is reminiscent of industrialized London in the mid-nineteenth century. London is described by Charles Dickens (查尔斯·狄更斯) in Chapter One (The Chancery) of the serialized novel Bleak House (荒凉山庄).
"Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes—gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun." 14.
The pollution in Xingtai is not the only environmental problem. In the Spring, large sandstorms blow in from the Mongolian steppe. The worst sandstorm the poet ever experienced was in Linyi City when his face and larynx were literally sandblasted.
Xingtai Earthquake
There are few who don't know -- which includes authorities -- that this super-sized Purgatory is prone to earthquakes. Xingtai, Hebei is located above the North China Seismic Belt. "The frequency and intensity of earthquakes here are second only to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau". 12. From March 8th to March 29th in 1966 the Xingtai earthquakes (邢台大地震) struck and killed 8064 people. 13. Fate will dictate whether you go out with a bang (earthquake) or a whimper (pollution) in the Purgatory of Xingtai.
Emperor Gaozu of Han
SUN Dawu may take some solace in the lessons that real history provides. The Battle of Julu (鉅鹿之戰) 13. was fought at Xingtai in 207 BCE between forces of the Qin dynasty and the insurgent state of Chu. The battle provided a decisive victory for the rebels over the larger Qin army. Furthermore, it allowed for the rise of Liu Bang (劉邦) who was born into a peasant family. He reigned from 202-195 BCE as the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. 16. It was a dynasty that lasted 500 years.
In summary, there are two key 18 year periods of three phases each for Dawu Group and its founder SUN Dawu which may be broadly summarized. In period one, Dawu Group is founded. This may be equated with Paradise as barren land becomes fertile. However, Hell begins with the arrest of SUN Dawu and his brothers on May 27, 2003. It is followed by Purgatory until the official settlement on November 11, 2003 for time served.
In period two, Paradise begins for the Sun family and Dawu Group with the release of the Suns and establishment of normalcy at Dawu Group. The fruition of Paradise is the creation of the Private Entrepreneurial Constitutional System in 2004. The company continues to grow and its employees prosper. However, there were several major setbacks which included two trademark cases, African Swine Flu, seizure of apartment buildings and later two land disputes in 2020.
It may be said that there was a descent into Hell on November 11, 2020 in the detention of Dawu employees which included SUN Dawu and the seizure of Dawu Group. Seven employees including SUN Dawu were removed from their residences and then designated without residence. Life in “Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location” is Hell. The defendants are consigned to Purgatory in their sentences on July 28, 2021.
Sun is sentenced to 1 year in the detention of Hell and 17 years in Purgatory for pleading not guilty. The verdict implies that he has learned nothing in the last two periods of from 1986 to 2003 and then from 2003 to 2020 respectively. The open question though is what have the Chinese people learned from the imprisonment of SUN Dawu, the seizure of Dawu Group and their own situation within the Cultural Revolution 2.0 of fear and terror sponsored by the State. Perhaps the unintended lesson is that revolution is the solution.
D. Carlton Rossi
December 24, 2021
1. https://chinachange.org/2021/04/02/sun-dawu-a-chinese-agricultural-entrepreneurs-36-year-dream-in-the-era-of-reform-and-opening-up-part-two/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Guards
3. https://chinachange.org/2021/07/17/briefing-on-the-first-day-of-dawu-trial/
4. https://chinachange.org/2021/07/18/briefing-on-the-second-day-of-dawu-trial/
5. https://chinachange.org/2021/07/20/briefing-on-the-fourth-day-of-dawu-trial-i-want-to-dig-a-window/
6. https://chinachange.org/2021/08/01/briefing-on-the-eleventh-day-of-dawu-trial-10-questions-and-10-answers/
7. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/formaldehyde.html
8. https://listverse.com/2016/06/24/10-disturbing-stories-from-chinas-horrific-cultural-revolution/
9. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8789/8789-h/8789-h.htm#link29
10. https://chinachange.org/2015/07/24/what-can-you-do-in-the-face-of-terror-a-chinese-entrepreneur-responds-to-arrest-of-rights-lawyers/
11. https://aqicn.org/map/china/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Xingtai_earthquakes
13. https://www.163.com/dy/article/G8MBV1OJ0543RDXS.html
14. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1023/1023-h/1023-h.htm
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Julu
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Gaozu_of_Han
The August 4th Incident 8.4事件 2020
The Demolition Incidents
My readers may be familiar with a story published on my websites about three years ago. The basis of the story didn't make the national headlines in China because it was a local matter; although, it represents a rather pervasive phenomenon. Several large advertising towers along the highway belonging to Dawu Group were demolished on June 16, 2018 by government departments.
The circumstance reminded the author of his experience at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1993. He asked his doctoral students to imagine they were starting up a business in their particular field of expertise. The project was to design a poster which would advertise their business. Out of his own funds he purchased the posters which were to be used.
It was amazing the degree of enthusiasm and skills the students applied to their project. This was magnified because most of the students were in theoretical rather than applied sciences. They actually had to think about the real world and what they might do after they graduated.
Their teacher was quite proud of their achievements. He displayed their posters on the walls of three classrooms. However, he ran out of space. Therefore he also posted them on the walls of the stairwells.
The Party had them all torn down within one-half hour. It may not be called demolition, but it is definitely censorship of free speech. They asked him why the posters had been put up. He explained to them that his kindergarten teacher used the same method. And everything he learned was in kindergarten--especially social skills. They didn't quite know how to respond to that reply.
Dawu Group put up large advertising signs along the highway to direct motorists to their businesses--especially out of town travellers who wanted to find the water park. They asked permission of authorities to put up the signs and they received permission. Another hundred businesses did the same thing.
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Yet, one day the government arbitrarily tore down the signs without using legal procedure. They even confiscated property in the same manner. Anyone else-- except those in authority--might regard it as vandalism if not theft. The signs were sold for their scrap steel value. Of course, the government used a third party so that they could distance themselves from illegal theft. The point is that the distinction between getting permission and not getting permission is blurred because the government can act arbitrarily and even claim legality based on vague laws. However, if the government is teaching its citizenry to act as it does rather than what it says then it may unexpectedly get exactly what it wishes.
One might say that the government's dismantlement of the billboards was predicatable based on two factors. The most important was the Xiong'an New Area 雄安新区 which was established in April 2017. Xiong'an's development is taking place under the direct oversight of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. This means private signs were sacrificed by the State in the interest of public good as interpreted by the State, part of a beatification program or for any other reason.
The second factor involves precedent. The city of Beijing had announced on December 17, 2017 that 27,000 illegal signs would be demolished. These were along the 4th Ring Road which was fininished in 2001. The author is familiar with this road because he travelled on it for 45 minutes by bicycle to CAS in Zhongguancun, Haidian District so he could teach a 3 hour class and then returned on the same road in the opposite direction to teach a 3 hour class at CASS in Chaoyang District.
The battle of 4th Ring Road, so to speak, was waged on four fronts; namely, signs, safety, beatification and demolition of homes. Tens of thousands of rural migrants and workers were kicked out of their homes and forced to move back to the countryside. One woman was thrown out of her home, thrown out of a hostel the next day and thrown out of another hostel on the third day.
The dismantlement of billboards in the Xiong'an area in 2018 was also a harbinger of things to come. Billboards are basically signs. However, symbols are much more important. Dawu SUN, Dawu Group and Dawu City are related symbols. They symbolize freedom, family enterprise, democracy, constitutionalism and moral principles. The three symbols are perceived as threats to the Communist Party because of their proximity to the the Xiong'an New Area.
Dawu City is a socialist, utopian paradise of common prosperity. It is based on goodness rather than evilness. The model encourages people to be good and it begins with the family and earlier with ancestors and rites. On the other hand, the Party's model is top down. It assumes that force is necessary because people are born evil. Of course, it may be said that evil is in the eye of the beholder.
It can be perceived that SUN Dawu is much like Confucius who searched for a ruler to serve. According to a new book called of The Shortest History of China by Linda Jaivin, Confucius asked seventy-two different rulers if he could serve them. Ironically, it seems, he also had seventy-two pupils who mastered his thought, but they were not rulers.
Unfortunately for Sun--China has only one ruler. China is ruled by only one thought. It is Xi Jinping Thought. It is a situation reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution under Mao Tse-tung who wanted to preserve Chinese Communism and his own authority by imposing Mao Tse-tung Thought as the dominant ideology.
There is a difference though between Confucius and SUN Dawu with respect to the times they lived. Confucius lived in the Spring and Autumn period of the Zhou Dynasty. He was arrested only temporarily because of misidentification. However, if Confucius had lived in the Qin Dynasty he likely would have been persecuted or perhaps executed through burial along with 460 Confucian scholars. The author classifies Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Thought as "Tough Thought".
It was not enough for the Party to establish a committee at Dawu Group. It was not enough for the Party to require systematic government access to private-sector data at Dawu Group as they have required throughout China. It was not enough to hold a local meeting of the Party at Dawu Group around the time of the trial.
What was required was the arrest of more than 20 family members and company executives of Dawu Group along with the seizure of the Dawu Group Ltd. What was required was replacement of all 30 managers of the subsidiaries with officials sympathetic to the Party if not outright Party members. What was required was the conviction of SUN Dawu and others on charges of "Picking quarrels" 寻衅滋事 which the author calls "Peking quarrels" even though those quarrels were provoked by organs of the State. What was required by the Party was the Annihilation of the Dawu Group Family Enterprise reminiscent of the Annihilation of the Kong (Confucius) Family Enterprise in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution.
The trigger for the arrests and seizure of Dawu Group 大午集团 were the land dispute incidents of 6.21 and 8.4 against Xushui State Farm in 2020 which are known in Chinese as 2020年针对徐水国营农场的6.21和8.4土地纠纷. Three of the charges relate specifically to the 8.4 incident of August 04, 2020. The following abbreviated account is provided through the courtesy of China Change.
"The “August 4 incident” specifically refers to a series of collective rights’ protection actions by Dawu Group employees on August 4, 2020, when the Xushui District Public Security Bureau (徐水区公安局) intervened with excessive force in the land dispute between Dawu Group and a state-owned farm.
At the end of July 2020, the Dawu Group built fences and prefabricated mobile houses on the Sijiatai (四家台) lot for farming and management needs in accordance with the land contract signed with Langwuzhuang village (郎五庄).
On August 4, 2020, the state-owned farm obtained the protection of a large number of police from the Xushui District Public Security Bureau (PSB) through a mere written request without prior notice to Dawu Group, without negotiating with Dawu or taking other legal approaches. The state farm personnel unilaterally demolished Dawu's enclosure and mobile houses valued at 18,000 yuan..."
In retrospect, one can see that the demolitions began outside of the Dawu Group on the highways leading up to it. It involved the destruction of billboards or property owned by Dawu Group which were used for advertising purposes. The company had legal permission to erect those billboards. Dawu Group's staff claimed the demolition was done by government departments. The mayor actually said "Your Dawu Company must support the work of the government!" Basically, the Dawu response was as long as it complies with the law. The author seems to recall that the total loss to the Dawu Group amounted to $100,000 US and the loss to business is incalculable.
On August 04, 2020 another demolition took place at Dawu City. It was a building owned by Dawu Group. The building had been erected a few days earlier. This was done in accordance with a land contract with Langwuzhuang village (where SUN Dawu was born). However, the building was demolished without notice under a police protective umbrella. While the damage done amounted to only about $3000 US; nevertheless, the demolition was planned in advance as a provocation by an organ of the State. A civil disturbance and resistance ensued. In the immediate aftermath, Dawu Group employees were arrested. No one who was responsible for the demolition was arrested. No police were arrested. All of this resulted in the midnight arrest of the Great Noon (SUN Dawu) and executives of the company by police wielding submachine guns on November 11, 2020. In effect, the entire Dawu Group Ltd. was also seized by the State.
D. Carlton Rossi
October 18, 2021
Beijing is rapidly demolishing its own city, and 27,000 billboards are next,
Tara Francis Chan Dec 4, 2017
https://www.businessinsider.com/beijing-after-mass-evictions-comes-billboard-campaign-2017-12
Briefing on the Seventh Day of Dawu Trial
Dawu Legal Team, July 21, 2021
https://chinachange.org/2021/07/24/briefing-on-the-seventh-day-of-dawu-trial/
民营企业“大悟公司”大型广告牌被拆除（博讯2018年6月22日转载）
The large-scale billboard of the private enterprise "Dawu Company" was demolished (Reproduced by Boxun on June 22, 2018.
https://bnn.co/news/gb/china/2018/06/201806222201.shtml
Linda Jaivin, The Shortest History of China, Published by Black Inc.: Carlton Australia, 2021.
Land Disputes
Land Dispute 1963
孙大午：你想做个干净的人，你就做不成
原作者：编辑： Yve -
来源：中国数字时代
2020年12月7日
1.恐怖的大抓捕
南方周末采访的匿名人士称，警方通报中的“破坏生产经营”，源自于孙大午所在的郎五庄村与徐水国营农场的土地纠纷。1963年，郎五庄村曾将740亩土地交由徐水国营农场耕种。实际上，后者占用的土地超过2000亩。为了土地确权，双方数年争执不下。后来，郎五庄村把土地租给了大午种植业公司。今年6月21日和8月4日，大午集团人员与徐水国营农场人员先后发生了两次冲突。第二次冲突中，徐水区公安介入，并与大午集团员工发生肢体冲突，大午集团 20多名员工因此受伤，39名员工被抓。
https://www.ipkmedia.com
Sun Dawu: If you want to be a clean person, you can't do it
Author: Edit: Yve -
Source: China Digital Age
December 7, 2020
1. The Great Catch of Terror
An anonymous person interviewed by Southern Weekend said that the "disruption of production and operation" in the police report originated from a land dispute between Langwuzhuang Village, where Sun Dawu is located, and Xushui State Farm. In 1963, Langwuzhuang Village once handed over 740 acres of land to Xushui State Farm for cultivation. In fact, the latter occupies more than 2,000 mu of land. In order to confirm the land rights, the two sides have been arguing for several years. Later, Langwuzhuang Village leased the land to Dawu Plantation Company. On June 21 and August 4 this year, Dawu Group personnel and Xushui State Farm personnel clashed twice. In the second conflict, the Xushui District Public Security Bureau intervened and had a physical conflict with Dawu Group employees. More than 20 employees of Dawu Group were injured and 39 employees were arrested.
According to a report by VOA, Sun Dawu said in an interview later that the police clearly favored the Xushui State-owned Farm, "it was deemed that they belonged to the state, but in fact they were a group for personal gain in the name of the state."
* Mou, Chinese unit of land measurement that varies with location but is commonly 806.65 square yards (0.165 acre, or 666.5 square metres).
The central issue between Xushui State Farm and Dawu Group is a land dispute. There are thousands of land disputes throughout China every year. In most cases, they result in confiscation of the land at some point. Social unrest is created in the process.
The fact is that this particular land dispute began in 1963 or 58 years ago. The issue is not so much what happened in two incidents referred to as “6.21事件”and 和“8.4事件”in 2020 at a village in Langwuzhuang leading to eight charges against only one side in the dispute. Two questions should be asked. Why has the government not developed a satisfactory mechanism in 58 years to resolve disputes like these? Why hasn't the law been adequately reformed to avoid disputes?
2020年8月4日
China Business News: Sun Dawu’s new puzzle: What is a state-owned farm?
October 10, 2010
This expressway is called Rongwu Expressway. It runs from Rongcheng in Shandong to Wuhai in Inner Mongolia. It is an east-west trunk line in the "13 vertical and 15 horizontal" planned and constructed by the state. It runs through the whole of Hebei and passes through the Dawu Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group. It is located in Xushui County, Baoding.
However, the Dawu Group, which covers an area of 225 acres, has not received the corresponding compensation for land acquisition, which makes Sun Dawu puzzled. "According to the "Notice of the People's Government of Hebei Province on the Implementation of the Land Price Requisition" (Jizheng [2008] No. 132), I should be able to get 80% of the land compensation." He told reporters, "But now only for the land For the compensation for attachments, the compensation for land acquisition has not been paid.” The reason given is that Dawu Group is not the owner of the right to use these land.
In fact, the land was originally contracted and leased by Dawu Group from the local state-owned farm in Baoding. The contract period was 30 years, with 16 years before it expired. However, all land compensation was paid to the state-owned farm, Dawu Group Because he is not the owner of land use rights, no compensation will be given for the next 16 years.
"Freak" State Farm
In Sun Dawu's view, the state-owned farm is like a "freak": its business activities have nothing to do with superiors, profit and loss have nothing to do with superiors, and the amount of money earned is not handed over to the state or government. However, the superiors will still provide various compensations to the farms according to the agricultural land (the original situation was that farmers paid agricultural taxes, and the farms also paid agricultural taxes; now farmers enjoy a subsidy of more than 80 yuan per mu, and the farm also enjoys it), and the farm operates in a market economy. Being realistic I don't think it has anything to do with the State.
中国经营报：孙大午的新困惑：国营农场为何物？
October 25, 2010
这条高速公路名叫荣乌高速，从山东的荣成直至内蒙古乌海，是国家规划建设的“十三纵十五横”中一条东西干线，贯穿河北全境，也正好经过大午农牧集团所在的保定徐水县境内。
但是被占地225亩的大午集团，却没有得到相应的征地补偿，这让孙大午怎么也想不通。“按照《河北省人民政府关于实行征地区片价的通知》（冀政 [2008]132号），我应该能得到80%的土地补偿款。”他对记者说，“但现在只给了地上附着物的赔偿，征地补偿款分文未给。”给出的原因是大午集团并非这些土地的使用权人。
事实上，这些土地当初是大午集团从保定地方国营农场手中承包租赁而来，承包期为30年，还有16年才到期，但是，全部土地补偿款支付给了国营农场，大午集团因不是土地使用权人，未来的16年不予任何补偿。
“我们承包了30年却不是使用权人，这是什么道理？实在难以接受。”孙大午说，“这样的事全国不知有多少？国有资产居然不属于国也不属于民，到底属于谁？”
“怪胎”国营农场
在孙大午看来，国营农场就像一个“怪胎”：它的经营活动与上级无关，盈亏与上级也没关系，赚多少钱也不上交国家，也不给政府交。可是上级仍然会按照农用地给予农场各种补偿（原来的情况是农民纳农业税，农场也纳农业税；现在农民享受每亩80多元的补贴，农场也享受），农场在市场经济中经营生产、盈亏自负，看不出和“国家”有什么关系。
http://sundawu1.blog.sohu.com/161530405.html
50 million Chinese left homeless by developers
Sydney Morning Herald
October 24, 2011
It’s a reversal of one of the core principles of the Communist Revolution. Mao Zedong won the hearts of the masses by redistributing land from rich landlords to penniless peasants. Now, powerful local officials are snatching it back, sometimes violently, to make way for luxury apartment blocks, malls and sports complexes in a debt-fueled building binge.
City governments rely on land sales for much of their revenue because they have few sources of income such as property taxes. They’re increasingly seeking to cash in on real estate prices that have risen 140 percent since 1998 by appropriating land and flipping it to developers for huge profits.
“The high price of land leads to local governments being predatory,” said Andy Xie, an independent economist based in Shanghai who was formerly Morgan Stanley’s chief Asia economist. “China’s land policy is really screwed up.”
The evictions are alarming the nation’s leaders, who have taken steps to tackle the problem and are concerned about social stability. Land disputes are the leading cause of surging unrest across China, according to an official study published in June. The number of so-called mass incidents -- protests, riots, strikes and other disturbances -- doubled in five years to almost 500 a day in 2010, according to Sun Liping, a sociology professor at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.
There’s more to come. Some 60 million farmers will be uprooted over the next two decades as the urbanization that propelled China to the world’s second-largest economy gathers pace, according to an estimate by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. In many cases, officials take land they don’t use, an August report from the academy said.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/50-million-chinese-left-homeless-by-developers-20111024-1mg0p.html
康养小镇
Cheng Tiejun: Sun Dawu's "Capital Socialism" Dream (Part 5)
February 4, 2021
Da Wu continued, “For another example, the state encourages farmers to exchange vacant homesteads for our commercial buildings, which is conducive to the use of idle land and promotes urbanization. I built nine elevator houses with the replaced land quotas. I also got approvals from the Land Bureau and the Urban Construction Bureau. The government also collected corresponding taxes and fees. Unexpectedly, the new district chief of land would not agree with the approval of the former leader. Acknowledgment, insisted that we were building illegally, and claimed to be blown up for us. After a reasonable argument, the city leaders intervened in coordination, and the dispute was settled. Let us make up for the "change of use" difference before it is settled. This turmoil. If the definition of land rights is very clear, the land use supervision is also clear and easy to understand, leaving no ambiguity. Will there be so many frictions and disputes?" In response to this ambiguity, I asked friends in the system, and they said out of the mystery, it turns out that randomness is directly proportional to rent-seeking space. The greater the arbitrariness, the more opportunities to make money. Therefore, urban streets are under construction almost every year. After digging and repairing, and digging after repairing, there are rebates available for every construction.
程铁军：孙大午的“资本社会主义”梦 （连载之五）
2021年2月4日
” 大午接着说，“再比如，国家鼓励农民，用空置宅基地交换我们的商品楼，有利于闲散土地利用，也促进促进城镇化建设。我用置换来的土地指标建了九栋电梯房，也从土地局和城建局拿到了批文，政府还收了相应的税费。没想到，新任区土地局长，对前任领导批准的事情不认账，硬说我们是违章建筑，声称要给我们炸掉。后经据理力争，市领导介入协调，才算平息了纠纷，让我们再补交点什么“变更用途”差价，才算摆平了这场风波。如果地权界定非常清楚，土地用途监管也明白易懂，不留模糊地带。还会有这么多摩擦和纠纷吗？”针对这种模糊随意，我询问了体制内朋友，他们道出了其中奥妙，原来，随意性跟寻租空间成正比。随意性越大，捞钱机会就越多。所以，城市街道几乎年年施工，挖了修，修了再挖，每次施工都有回扣可拿
https://yibaochina.com/?p=240568
Original title: Why was Sun Dawu arrested? Land disputes with state farms surfaced
November 15, 2020
Wu Danhong, director of the Difficult Evidence Center of China University of Political Science and Law and a part-time lawyer of Beijing Youbang Law Firm, recently wrote an article that the reason for Sun Dawu's sudden arrest after many years is most likely due to the aforementioned land dispute. Many years ago, Langwuzhuang Village had handed over 740 mu of land to the state-owned Baoding Farm for cultivation, but there have been people accusing the state-owned Baoding Farm for occupying more than 2,000 mu of land in Langwuzhuang Village. In order to confirm the land rights, the two sides have been arguing for several years. Later, Langwuzhuang Village leased the land to Dawu Seed Industry Company.
Since then, Dawu Group personnel and state-owned Baoding Farm personnel clashed repeatedly due to land confirmation issues, which eventually led to police intervention.
孙大午因何被抓？与国营农场土地纠纷浮出水面
2020-11-15
中国政法大学疑难证据中心主任、北京市友邦律师事务所兼职律师吴丹红近日撰文称，时隔多年，孙大午此次突然被抓的起因，大概率是因为上述土地纠纷。多年前，郎五庄村曾将740亩土地交由国营保定农场耕种，但一直有人在控告国营保定农场占用郎五庄村土地超2000亩。为了土地确权问题，双方数年间争执不下。后来，郎五庄村将地租给了大午种业公司。
此后，大午集团人员与国营保定农场人员多次因土地确认问题发生冲突，并最终导致警方介入。
https://money.163.com/20/1115/18/FRGCB76N002580S6.html
人身和财产权 Person and Property Rights
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