Forced Eviction Chart

Date of Incident

Site of Dispute:  (Urban/Local)

Source[2] & Date

Short Description of Incident

3/7/2003

Rural/Yangzhou

Southern Weekend

12/04/2003

A group of 13 land protestors who attempted to visit the Jining City municipal government were given 1-3 year sentences for disturbing the “public order.”  

3/13/2003

Urban/Shanghai

HRIC
 

3/14/2003

The police detained 45 land protesters who were en route to Beijing from Shanghai to petition the central government.   

5/1/2003

Urban/Shanghai

HRIC

5/1/2003

132 residents upset at being evicted from their homes in Shanghai protested in front of municipal government buildings. 

6/11/2003

Urban/Beijing

AFP

6/12/2003

10 families evicted from their houses in Beijing protested near the International Trade Building. 

6/18/2003

Urban/Shanghai

BBC

VOA

6/15/2003

200 protestors gathered outside the Shanghai municipal government to protest unfair treatment in the sale of their housing.  Police detained 35 protestors.

8/19/2003

Urban/

Shanghai-Jingan District

SCMP

8/20/2003

A suit brought by Jingan District residents against property developer Zhou Zhengyi was rejected by the local district court. The suit alleged that the eviction of the residents from their homes had been unlawful.

8/20/2003

Rural/Shanxi

Ming Pao

8/21/2003

300 protestors attempted to travel to Xian to protest low compensation for their homes.   

9/15/2003

Site of Original Dispute:

Rural/Anhui Province-

Rongcheng City

Site of Self Immolation: Urban/Beijing

SCMP and Xinhua News

9/15/2003

Zhu Zhengliang, a 45-year-old peasant from Anhui, committed self-immolation to protest his forced eviction.

9/21/2003

Rural/

Hubei Province-Yichang City

Taiyang Pao

9/22/2003

An explosion at Yicheng’s Municipal Geological Dormitory results in 4 deaths and 26 injuries.  The explosion was triggered by an evicted resident. The resident died in the attack.  

9/25/2003

Urban/Beijing

SCMP

9/26/2003

A resident upset over his impending eviction committed self-immolation in front of the property developer, injuring both.

9/29/2003

Site of Original Dispute:  Urban/Shanghai

Site of Arrests:

Urban/Beijing

SCMP

3/23/2003

HRIC

3/25/2003

The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau detained protestors from Shanghai attempting to petition the central government over forced evictions.

10/1/2003

Urban/Beijing-Tiananmen Square

AFP

10/03/2003

A protestor jumped into the moat outside Tiananmen Gate to protest the forced eviction of his parents. 

11/11/2003

Rural/Liaoning Province Shenyang City

Taiyang Pao

11/15/2003

One hundred demolition workers illegally tore down houses in a local village. 

11/20/2003

Site of Original Dispute:  Urban/Shangdong Province-Qingdao City

Site of Protest:

Urban/ Beijing-

Zhongnanhai Compound

AFP

11/20/2003

A group of 40 protesters from Qingdao sat in front of Zhongnanhai to protest their unlawful eviction. 

11/25/2003

Urban/Guangdong – Province-Guangzhou

Xingdao News

11/26/2003

A group of 184 property owners protested the illegal re-mortgaging of their home by a property developer in Guangzhou.   

12/10/2003

Rural/Zhejiang Province

FEER

12/10/2003

Farmers, angry over the seizure of their land, kidnapped local government officials in an industrial park, leading to a conflict with local police.

12/10/2003

Rural/Henan Province- Luohe City-Yuanhui District

AFP

12/12/2003

Four people were killed and seven others injured after police and protestors clashed on railroad tracks in central China’s Henan Province.

Previously, on Dec. 11, nearly 1,000 residents blocked a railway line in Luohe City, Yuanhui District as 50 police officers tried to drag the demonstrators away.

12/10/2003

Site of Original Dispute:

Rural/Henan Province

Site of Self-Immolation: 

Urban/Shanghai-Putuo District

AFP

12/12/2003

A disgruntled man in Shanghai attempted self-immolation in front of a fish market before being subdued by the local police.

12/27/2003

Rural/Guanxi Province-

Beihai City

Boxun

1/6/2004

After four peasants were illegally detained for protesting the loss of their land, a group of peasants clashed with local police at the city’s municipal headquarters.

12/31/2003

Urban/Guangdong Province- Shenzhen

AFP

1/1/2004

Hundreds of homeowners from the Wanke Garden and other residential areas of Shenzhen’s Xiangmeipian District staged a demonstration in front of the office building of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress.  The protest was related to the Shenzhen Land Management Bureau’s plan to build an overpass on their land.

2/17/2004

Urban/Liaoning Province- Shenyang City

AFP

2/18/2004

A 43-year old man in Shenyang threatened to commit self- immolation over a property dispute with local government officials.

2/28/2004

Rural/Henan Province Fengqiu County

RFA

4/23/2004

A group of over 300 local officials attempted to force reluctant local farmers to relocate.  The farmers refused to leave on the grounds that compensation was too low.

3/6/2004

Urban/Beijing 

AFP

3/6/2004

Citizens who had been filing protests related to property disputes were placed under house arrest in Beijing and Shanghai. 

3/27/2004

Urban/

Chongqing City

AFP

3/31/2004

Nearly a thousand protesters in Chongqing protested the planned demolition of their homes.     

4/26/2004

Site of Original Dispute:

Rural/Tianjin

Site of Protest:

Beijing 

RFA

4/26/2004

One hundred protestors from Tianjin traveled to Beijing to air concerns over unlawful evictions and to make other complaints.  The protestors were detained and beaten.   

4/30/2004

Urban/Liaoning Province-Shenyang 

CCTV

5/26/2004

A Shenyang native, angry at the low compensation offered for his house, protested by refusing to move out. 

5/10/2004

 Urban/Xian

Boxun

5/08/2004

Residents gathered in front of a local market to protest the illegal demolition of their houses. 

5/15/2004

 Urban/Nanjing

Xiandai Kuaibao 

5/16/2004

A father and son were beaten in their home after they rejected the compensation proposal made by a local property developer. 

5/20/2004

Urban/Beijing 

Wen Hui Pao

5/19/2004

One hundred farmers were detained in central Beijing as they attempted to petition central government leaders.

5/21/2004

Urban/Guangdong Province- Shenzhen

BBC and Xinhua

5/21/2004

In two separate incidents, a total of 400 residents protested the demolition of their homes in front of the proposed site and then took a hostage. 

5/27/2004

Urban/Xian

Boxun

6/14/2004

Local residents and representatives of a property developer fought after the developer tried to evict them from their homes.

5/30/2004

Urban/Shanxi Province-Xian

Huasheng   Paper

5/31/2004

An elderly woman was beaten after refusing to sell her house to property developers. 

6/03/2004

Urban/Beijing 

AFP

6/11/2004

In a series of two incidents on June 3, more than 1,000 farmers from five villages in the Yanta District on the outskirts of Xian demonstrated outside the Shaanxi Province Communist Party headquarters.

6/04/2004

Rural/Guangdong Province-

Xinxing County

SCMP

6/4/2004

Three farmers were sentenced to prison for inciting a riot to attack local government buildings in a dispute over land seizures.

6/4/2004

Rural/Hunan Province-

Jiahe County

Xinhua

6/04/2004

In order to proceed with a new development project, local officials in Jiahe County illegally evicted eleven families from their homes. 

6/11/2004

Urban/Guangzhou-Baiyun District

Xinxi Shibao

6/12/2004

Protestors stood in front of their homes to keep city government workers from demolishing them.

6/15/2004

Rural/Xinjiang Province-Yili County

Asia Times

6/15/2004

Hundreds of farmers protested government attempts to build a dam on existing farmland. 

6/16/2004

Rural/Sichuan Province- Zigong City

AFP/HRIC

6/18/2004

4,000 peasants signed a petition accusing local city officials of stealing their land and selling it to property developers.  
 

06/19/2004

Urban/Guangdong Province- Shenzhen

Taiyang Pao

6/20/2004

More than 400 property owners from a housing estate at Longgang District in Shenzhen formed a human wall on the Shenzhen-Huizhou Highway to protest the cancellation of their land use certificates.  

07/02/2004

Rural/Tangshan

HRIC

6/03/2004

11,283 residents of Tangshan wrote a letter to Premier Wen Jiabao asking for the dismissal of local government officials who had participated in improper land requisitions. 

7/7/2004

Urban/Beijing

AFP

7/7/2004

Three hundred protestors gathered outside the Party’s investigation office to protest local land abuses. 

7/8/2004

Urban/Beijing

AFP

7/8/2004

A group of 40 protestors were accosted outside of the Supreme People’s Protectorate in Beijing after calling for better treatment of land petitioners.

7/12/2004

Rural/Tianjin

AFP

7/12/2004

Several thousand protestors gathered in Tianjin to protest land corruption. 

7/14/2004

Urban/Beijing

AFP

7/14/2004

50 to 60 protestors from northeast China threatened to commit suicide if their complaints about land transactions were not heard by the Supreme Court. 

7/22/2004

Rural/Guangzhou Xiaoguwei Island

SCMP

7/22/2004

30 villagers from an “artists’ village” who were facing eviction to make way for Guangzhou’s University City, took their case to the Ministry of Construction in Beijing after the local government refused their compensation demands.

8/1/2004

Rural/Fujian Province, Wanli Village

USA Today

9/15/2004

20 female villagers locked themselves within the walls of a village-owned factory compound to protest the government confiscation of their homes and businesses.  More than 100 police forcibly dispersed the protest, leaving 15 people injured.

8/1/2004

Urban/Henan Province-Zhengzhou

Duowei Xinwen

8/1/2004

A bloody clash occurred between over 600 riot police and villagers when the villagers resisted arrest and protested against the township chief for selling their land. Police reportedly opened fire on the villagers, resulting in more than 30 villagers being shot.  Six were seriously injured.

8/13/2004

Rural/Shaanxi

Financial Times

8/13/2004

Private investors are preparing to sue the government over the seizure of thousands of oil wells estimated to be worth 7 billion yuan. The seizures sparked demonstrations and clashes with police. While authorities later agreed to pay 1.3 billion yuan, this is well below the 7 billion yuan the wells are worth and there are allegations that the agreement of some investors was forced while they were being held in police detention.

8/20/2004

Urban/Beijing-Shunyi

Foreign citizen

8/21/2004

Angry farmers from the village next to the International School of Beijing in Shunyi blocked a road, preventing buses from going into the school. The farmers were demonstrating against the newly built neighborhoods next to the school and demanded fair compensation for their lands.

8/27/2004

Guangdong-Panyu

Boxun

8/27/2004

A group of 300 individuals stormed local Party offices and took the Party secretary hostage after a sit-in outside the office building didn’t produce any results. Police arrested three people.  The village was then placed under a media blackout. Roads blocked off and no reporters were allowed in.

9/8/2004

Urban/Fujian Province-Fuzhou, Wanli Village

HRIC

9/9/2004

Authorities enlisted convicted criminals to help suppress protests by peasants over the expropriation and redevelopment of their farmland, involuntary removal to a new location, and inadequate compensation.  Bulldozers were used to cut off the water supply to the village and bulldoze the homes of three villagers.

9/25/2004

Rural/Guangzhou Province-Huangpu District, Dalang Village

Apple News

9/24/04

Upset that the villagers’ committee pocketed 70% of the compensation money for their requisitioned land, several hundred peasants refused to vacate their land and clashed with riot squads, public security personnel, and security guards who were trying to forcefully take over the land. They used water cannons and tear gas against rock-throwing villagers. Ten villagers were severely beaten.

10/2004

Rural/Hubei Province, Zigui County, Maoping Township

HRIC

10/26/2004

A group of 650 villagers, led by Fu Xiancai, organized appeals to various levels of the government to obtain appropriate compensation for village land claimed by the Three Gorges Dam project.

10/4/2004

Rural/Shaanxi Province-Yulin City, Sanchawan Village

Apple News

10/8/2004

Over 1,600 riot police opened fire on villagers protesting the requisition of land they believed to be collective land. The government claims that the land is state-owned. More than 50 villagers were wounded. 27 of them were wounded seriously.

10/20/2004

Urban/Shanghai, Luwan District

HRIC

10/25/2004

Three plaintiffs alleged that their homes were illegally destroyed by Shanghai Yangtze Jiayuan Property Development Company on August 8, 2003.  At the October 20, 2004 hearing of the case, the plaintiffs were barred from attending the trial, and the case was subsequently adjourned due to their absence.

10/22/2004

Urban/Jilin Province, Changchun City

Taiyang Pao

10/23/2004

400 residents of a condemned building attacked approximately 100 police from the Urban Administration Bureau as they began to tear down the building.  According to the source, the residents were dissatisfied with the compensation offered them.  Over 50 police and five residents were injured in the confrontation.

10/27/2004

Urban/Zhejiang Province, Taizhou

HRIC

10/28/2004

Yan Zhengxue filed a lawsuit against the Taizhou Public Security Substation, charging that public security had intimidated him into surrendering possession of his housing unit.  Court proceedings on October 27, 2004 were adjourned after Yan produced evidence that showed the bureau had manufactured evidence in its defense.

11/2/2004

Urban/Hubei Province, Wuhan City

Wen Wei Po

11/2/2004

Several dozen people staged a peaceful demonstration at the grand opening of a Wanda-Walmart shopping mall to protest the amount of compensation paid to evicted residents of buildings torn down to make way for the shopping mall.

11/4/2004

Rural/Sichuan Province, Hanyuan County

WSJ

11/5/2004

Taipei Times

11/7/2004

Thousands of villagers gathered to protest inadequate compensation for the seizure of land and homes to make way for the Pubugou dam in Hanyuan county.  At least 12 protesters were injured in clashes with the People’s Armed Police. The dam will displace as many as 100,000 people and has been the cause of numerous protests and petitions.

11/12/2004

Urban/Guangxi Province, Guilin City

Tung Fang Daily

11/17/2004

Several hundred villagers from Heping village, Chuanshan township, Qixing district, gathered at the Guilin city government offices to protest forced evictions on village land.  The city government dispatched anti-riot police to disperse the protesters.

11/15/2004

Urban/Beijing Municipality

AFP

11/16/2004

Residents of an east Beijing neighborhood were forcefully removed from their homes by over 100 police officers to enable the demolition of Nanyingfang neighborhood to proceed.  Residents refused to leave their homes, arguing that the Chaoyang district government was not providing fair compensation.

12/21/2004

Rural/ Guangzhou Province, Fangcun District, Haibei Village

SCMP

12/22/2004

Villagers gathered to protest the conduct of a village official who allegedly gave the title deed to collectively owned village land to a factory to use as collateral against loans, without the knowledge or consent of the villagers.  Police ended the month-long protest on December 21, 2004.

12/26/2004

Urban/ Beijing Municipality

Tokyo Kyodo World Service

1/26/2004

50 farmers from Hebei province, Zanhan county gathered outside Zhongnanhai to protest corruption in the legal system, possibly related to the government’s confiscation of farmland for development.

1/4/2005

Urban/Shenzhen City, Futian District

AFP

1/6/2005

AP

1/5/2005

Over 1,000 massage parlour, beauty salon, and restaurant workers protested the proposed demolition of their workplaces, barricading themselves inside the government-owned building.

1/5/2005

Urban/Beijing Municipality

Straits Times

1/7/2005

AFP

1/5/2005

More than 600 police forcibly dispersed 270 vendors gathered at Beijing’s Silk Alley outdoor market.  The vendors were protesting their eviction and the planned destruction of the market grounds. After several failed petitions, vendors organized a sit-in to stop the demolition of the market area.  Following the dispersion of the protestors, the market was demolished.

1/16/2005

Rural/Shaanxi Province, Yulin City, Yuyang Village

AFP

1/16/2005

A court in Yulin city sentenced 27 farmers to varying prison terms for illegally gathering and disturbing public order.  The farmers organized multiple protests of up to 500 villagers in response to local government abuses in acquiring village lands.