Will the Boat Sink the Water?: The Life of China's Peasants by Chen Guidi, Wu Chuntao Page B
Authors: Chen Guidi, Wu Chuntao
Tags: Asia, History, Politics & Social Sciences, Social Sciences, Economics, Ethnic Studies, china, Poverty, Human Geography, Asian, Politics & Government, Specific Topics, Economic Conditions, Communism & Socialism, Specific Demographics, Business & Money, International & World Politics, Ideologies & Doctrines, Political Economy, Special Groups
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employed in the city, this military action made a clean sweep of all the suspects; not a single one eluded the lawmen’s net.
The population of the western side of Gao village numbered barely a hundred heads; now, fifty-one had been arrested in one fell swoop—or fifty-two if you counted a three-year old toddler who was arrested along with his mother. This so-called “Gao Village incident” sent shock waves through millions of inhabitants of the provinces of Anhui and neighboring Jiangsu.
When the “Gao Village incident” occurred, two magazines in Hong Kong were already publishing reports of widespread rural unrest, disturbances, riots, and even armed uprising on the mainland under such titles as “Peasants’ Uprising Spreads Through Several Provinces” and “Half a Million Peasants in Four Provinces Stand Up for Their Rights.” These particular reports were unfounded, but the problems they touched on were undeniable. Our own investigation showed that the General Office of the Party Central Committee and of the State Council had issued joint directives, warning: “Many of our local Party and government leaders do not know how to han-dle the new situation and new problems cropping up in the rural areas today. On the contrary, they resort to security forces, armed police and militia, thus aggravating the situation.” Although the “Gao Village incident” was labeled a vio—
will the boat sink the water ?
lent “antitax uprising” by the local authorities, in truth there was no resistance at all. When villagers heard the screaming sirens and saw the police convoy arrive, they thought that the security forces were doing their job and were coming to arrest Village Chief Gao Xuewen!
The so-called “Gao village incident” was merely the last episode in a story fabricated by Gao Xuewen, the village chief. It is a long story.
To begin at the beginning, Gao Xuewen was universally hated in Gao Village. Ever since worming his way to the position of village chief, the man had been walking on clouds with his nose in the air, seeming to have even forgotten the surname of his own ancestors. No matter how many documents and directives were passed down from the Party Central Committee on relieving the peasants’ burden, the amount of taxes and dues in Gao Village still depended on Gao Xuewen’s word. You had to pay exactly what he ordered, and not a cent less. Opposing Gao was tantamount to opposing the people’s government, even the Party. If you were so unfortunate as to get into his bad books, he had no compunction against cursing and striking you. Not enough to be beaten and abused, the injured party was obliged to apologize before the matter was allowed to end.
The police action of October 5, 1997, did not come out of the blue but was, rather, the culmination of a series of events that was triggered by a minor affair, when Gao Xuewen once again had a chance to show his power. One of the respected village elders, seventy-year-old Granny Gao, had ventured to challenge the double tax for the site of her house. Gao Xuewen, contrary to the cultured flavor of his name (a combination of the words “study” and “literary”), reacted like a bully, ransacking the
the “antitax uprisin g”
house and smashing pots and pans and attacking the inhabitants. This was on October 4. As usual, it was the guilty party who rushed to make accusations. Gao Xuewen not only escaped reprimand but by his maneuvers managed on the very next day to return in triumph with security officers and armed police in tow, who started arresting people right and left, leaving the whole village stunned.
The first to be arrested during the afternoon of October 5 was Granny Gao. Not satisfied with arresting her, the police arrested her entire immediate family. Still not satisfied, they went on to arrest her elder and younger brothers, who were visiting, as well as her nephew and also her brother-in-law on her husband’s side. In short,
The population of the western side of Gao village numbered barely a hundred heads; now, fifty-one had been arrested in one fell swoop—or fifty-two if you counted a three-year old toddler who was arrested along with his mother. This so-called “Gao Village incident” sent shock waves through millions of inhabitants of the provinces of Anhui and neighboring Jiangsu.
When the “Gao Village incident” occurred, two magazines in Hong Kong were already publishing reports of widespread rural unrest, disturbances, riots, and even armed uprising on the mainland under such titles as “Peasants’ Uprising Spreads Through Several Provinces” and “Half a Million Peasants in Four Provinces Stand Up for Their Rights.” These particular reports were unfounded, but the problems they touched on were undeniable. Our own investigation showed that the General Office of the Party Central Committee and of the State Council had issued joint directives, warning: “Many of our local Party and government leaders do not know how to han-dle the new situation and new problems cropping up in the rural areas today. On the contrary, they resort to security forces, armed police and militia, thus aggravating the situation.” Although the “Gao Village incident” was labeled a vio—
will the boat sink the water ?
lent “antitax uprising” by the local authorities, in truth there was no resistance at all. When villagers heard the screaming sirens and saw the police convoy arrive, they thought that the security forces were doing their job and were coming to arrest Village Chief Gao Xuewen!
The so-called “Gao village incident” was merely the last episode in a story fabricated by Gao Xuewen, the village chief. It is a long story.
To begin at the beginning, Gao Xuewen was universally hated in Gao Village. Ever since worming his way to the position of village chief, the man had been walking on clouds with his nose in the air, seeming to have even forgotten the surname of his own ancestors. No matter how many documents and directives were passed down from the Party Central Committee on relieving the peasants’ burden, the amount of taxes and dues in Gao Village still depended on Gao Xuewen’s word. You had to pay exactly what he ordered, and not a cent less. Opposing Gao was tantamount to opposing the people’s government, even the Party. If you were so unfortunate as to get into his bad books, he had no compunction against cursing and striking you. Not enough to be beaten and abused, the injured party was obliged to apologize before the matter was allowed to end.
The police action of October 5, 1997, did not come out of the blue but was, rather, the culmination of a series of events that was triggered by a minor affair, when Gao Xuewen once again had a chance to show his power. One of the respected village elders, seventy-year-old Granny Gao, had ventured to challenge the double tax for the site of her house. Gao Xuewen, contrary to the cultured flavor of his name (a combination of the words “study” and “literary”), reacted like a bully, ransacking the
the “antitax uprisin g”
house and smashing pots and pans and attacking the inhabitants. This was on October 4. As usual, it was the guilty party who rushed to make accusations. Gao Xuewen not only escaped reprimand but by his maneuvers managed on the very next day to return in triumph with security officers and armed police in tow, who started arresting people right and left, leaving the whole village stunned.
The first to be arrested during the afternoon of October 5 was Granny Gao. Not satisfied with arresting her, the police arrested her entire immediate family. Still not satisfied, they went on to arrest her elder and younger brothers, who were visiting, as well as her nephew and also her brother-in-law on her husband’s side. In short,
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