Why Have China’s Peasants Become the Major Force in Social Resistance?
In this second part of a three-part series on land rights and social stability in China, Chinese economist He Qinglian focuses on the rising conflicts between peasants and local governments over land ownership rights and identifies the main cause: China’s economic growth model. In this model, requisition of land, often by force, from peasants for resource extraction is the lead income generator for local governments, but increasingly deprives China’s vast peasant population of their livelihood. He warns that if the trend continues, the Chinese government may soon find itself in a checkmate: a choice between allowing local governments or peasants to survive.
