2011-12-14

Chinese village of Wukan in open revolt

Inside Wukan: the Chinese village that fought back. Read the whole thing, excerpts will not do it justice. In terms of this village, social mood can't go much lower, but the rest of China can continue to decline until more and more incidents occur. Something to keep in mind when reading, the the final quote at the end hammers this home, the revolt is against local party officials. China is very decentralized and since it's a one-party state, it's better to think of local and central government officials as two separate interest groups. The central government tried in vain to pop the real estate bubble for years, but all their policies were end run by local officials. Only when they used heavy central control and slammed the brakes on monetary policy did it finally break the market. So, rather than seeing a revolt against communists, I see a revolt against local tyranny and an appeal to Beijing for help. If this conflict grows and spreads, it will expose internal fractures within the party as much as it exposes the rift between the people and the government.

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