Jiangxi Province engineer Zeng Guofan led a construction team to complete part of the construction of the employee housing project of Nanchang Railway Bureau six years ago. However, until today, the 7.2 million yuan project payment has not been received. To make matters worse, he has been detained and even received death threats. Recently, he publicly called out to the Chairman of Nanchang Railway Bureau, Tang Lixin, pledging to fight for his rights to the end.
The first phase of the employees’ guarantee housing project in Dongxiang District, Fuzhou City, was completed at the end of 2019 with a total construction area of 39,000 square meters. Zeng Guofan’s team completed 16,000 square meters of the project. The employees moved in that year, but the delayed project payment exceeds 8.4 million yuan, with only 1.2 million received and the remaining 7.2 million still unpaid.
Zeng Guofan told Epoch Times that this project was developed by Tianji Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nanchang Railway Bureau. “It belongs to a state-owned enterprise and acts domineeringly at the local level. The government is now evading payment and refusing to give the money.”
The project payment is over 8.47 million yuan, with 1.2 million paid and the remaining 7.2 million unpaid.（Interviewee provided）
According to “Qichacha”, Nanchang Railway Tianji Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. was established in March 1995 and is a subsidiary of China Railway Group.
For six years, Zeng Guofan has been shuttling between the court, petition bureau, and inspection team, but all the materials have been sent back to the original place, resulting in no progress.
In a rights protection letter, Zeng Guofan stated that the key figure in this incident is Tang Lixin, the Chairman and Party Secretary of Nanchang Railway Bureau Group. Despite his repeated calls for fairness, he faced detention and death threats. Every time Zeng Guofan went to demand payment, he was followed and surrounded by thugs hired by the railway bureau, and even detained. “It was decided by the Nanchang Railway Bureau to detain me to teach me a lesson.”
Journalists repeatedly called Nanchang Railway Bureau, but no one answered the phone.
Zeng Guofan has long been persecuted due to his political dissent. As early as 2014, he went to Jiangan to support a detained lawyer and posted political slogans with Wang Yifei across the country, resulting in a one-year sentence and two years probation with restricted exit.
After his release, Zeng Guofan and his family were strictly monitored by the authorities, prohibiting them from contacting like-minded friends. In recent years, the real estate market in China has been sluggish, making it difficult to find suitable work. A friend invited him to work in real estate in Germany, but the local government refused to process his passport.
On August 23, Zeng Guofan went to the railway bureau office building again to demand payment and was detained for 7 days on the grounds of “disturbing the unit’s order”. He said that before and after being detained, he received death threats several times. His wife was once again frightened, unable to bear the immense pressure, and filed for divorce. “My wife was scared to death by them, living in fear all the time, scared to the point of a mental breakdown. The authorities have been talking to me every few days over the years without a break.”
Zeng Guofan stated that he will continue to demand his wages at the railway bureau on November 3 and hopes the public will pay attention. “I am now determined to get this money back at all costs and confront Tang Lixin to the end.”