Okay, so far the situation in Wukan has ended up much better than I expected it would. The paucity of reporting from Wukan and the social media crackdown inside China on any searches relating to the village worried me quite deeply; and I have seen first-hand that treatment of protesting villagers in land-expropriation cases in rural China is often a very far cry from gentle. But this (reported in the Asahi Shimbun), if it truly is the case, is an incredibly positive development for the village: the 65-year-old de facto leader of the protests, Lin Zuluan, was named village head by the CCP (though he has said he plans to step down at the soonest possible opportunity), and new village elections will be held. In addition, there is an ongoing investigation into wrongdoing by the previous village administration; we shall see if it turns up anything or if substantive action is taken by CCP higher-ups.
It is unlikely that this is indicative of any kind of substantial systemic change, but even small victories like this one are welcome.
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It makes a change from beating protesters to death. A curious mix of carrot and stick.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. If the CCP are changing up their game for more carrots instead of sticks, that would be great. As it stands, though, caution is still more warranted than optimism.
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