As breakneck urban development eats into China's countryside, arbitrary land grabs by officials making exorbitant profits by selling it on to developers have sparked resentment and, in some cases, major social unrest.

Premier Wen Jiabao admitted in March during the annual meeting of parliament that errant local officials were to blame for many of the protests and vowed harsh punishment for those who forcibly seize land from peasants.

Earlier in June, the Ministry of Land and Resources admitted that in some cities more than 60 percent of the commercial land acquisitions since September 2004 had been illegal.

In some places, that proportion had reached 90 percent, it said. Other villagers who have approached the local government say they have met with indifference to their plight, and claim they can find no papers outlining what plans there are for the land.

They fear expensive apartment blocks will be built there and sold off for a big profit, joining the rows of similar projects springing up all over the city and its once rural suburbs to provide modern comfort for a growing middle class.

In some parts of China, such land disputes have led to violence, even death. Last December, police in the southern province of Guangdong opened fire trying to quell a dispute over land taken for a wind power project, killing at least three and maybe up to 20.

And in June, state media reported the stabbing of a village official who advocated greater transparency in local affairs and improved compensation for farmers forced from their land.

By M. Sese
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