In Guangdong’s Zhanjiang City, the village chief of Tiantou Village in Xinliao Town, Xuwen County, was found selling land privately to build a photovoltaic power station, which has led to hundreds of villagers protesting against it. The villagers have been advocating for their rights for several months, but to no avail.
One villager, using the pseudonym Li Hua, revealed to a reporter that the villagers began their advocacy at the end of July when they discovered a contract between the village chief and a certain photovoltaic company. They found discrepancies in the publicly available village voting data, with some signatures missing, some individuals no longer present, some names of incarcerated individuals, and many false names.
According to official information provided to the villagers, the meeting voting data provided by Tiantou Village showed that out of a total of 246 households, 177 households agreed to the project, exceeding two-thirds of the total households and thereby passing the project. However, Li Hua stated that the village had never held a collective meeting to seek opinions from the villagers. Where did this alleged voting data come from? Who are the 177 households that supposedly agreed to the project?
During the advocacy process, the villagers spontaneously organized a village vote where they collected signatures to show that over two-thirds of the villagers opposed the project and the leasing of land to the photovoltaic company by the village chief.
Li Hua further mentioned that the photovoltaic company occupies 215 acres in the village, with dozens of acres of farmland discovered not leased to the company. The village chief allegedly sold this land to the company without any compensation to the villagers. The remaining over 190 acres are shrimp ponds leased to the company. The same company has also built photovoltaic power stations in other villages, totaling more than 6,000 acres.
Li Hua noted that while most villagers from other villages dare not oppose the project and have signed in agreement, upon seeing Tiantou Village’s advocacy, they are now considering opposing it.
Some villagers from Tiantou Village revealed that the bidding conditions for the project openly set exclusionary terms such as “only local companies with a capital of over 9 million yuan allowed,” suggesting favoritism and potential manipulation to benefit specific companies.
As the photovoltaic power station is planned to be built just beside the villagers’ residential area, concerns about environmental pollution have risen, leading the villagers to oppose the construction of the power station.
For several months, the villagers have stood guard at the village entrance, preventing construction vehicles from entering the village for work.
Despite months of advocacy, the government has consistently defended the project, leaving the villagers frustrated. They have hired a lawyer to pursue legal avenues for their rights and have exposed the situation online. However, the villagers remain uncertain about the success of their advocacy efforts.
Efforts by reporters to contact the Tiantou Village Committee were unsuccessful as the phone calls went unanswered.