In recent developments in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, a group of several hundred retired workers from Xiyawu Village in Haigang District have initiated a rights protection campaign since July of this year. They have accused the village secretary of selling collective assets at low prices, leading to significant losses, and have not received wage subsidies for three consecutive years. Recently, hundreds of villagers staged a peaceful protest in front of the district government, only to face suppression from the authorities.
Xiyawu Village was once an important hub for township enterprises in Qinhuangdao City. The village’s subsidiary Yanshan Industry Company owned a number of sizable enterprises, including a brewery built with an investment of 170 million yuan and Yanshan Hotel, among other key assets. These enterprises were pillars of the local economy and provided vital support for the village’s development and the workers’ livelihoods. However, the former village party branch secretary, Li Liande, former chairman of Yanshan Industry Co., Ltd., and his wife, who was the financial director at the time, sold collective assets at low prices, resulting in significant loss of assets.
With approximately 400 to 500 retired personnel in Xiyawu Village, the village ceased subsidy payments since 2023. According to statistics, the accumulated amount owed over three years could reach around 20 million yuan.
Starting from July this year, villagers of Xiyawu Village have launched a rights protection campaign. One villager, Liu Yuzhen (pseudonym), disclosed to the Epoch Times that “During Li Liande’s tenure at Yanshan Industry Company, the enterprise and land were disposed of at low prices, and the common people did not receive a penny.” She introduced that a large amount of land had been dealt with, and although the largest brewery in name still belonged to the village collectively, its actual operational control had changed hands.
Another villager, Zhang Fugui (pseudonym), stated that “Official accounts have never been made public,” making it impossible for workers to understand the true situation of asset disposal and the specific flow of funds. Collective assets involve the interests of all villagers and should be democratically supervised by the villagers, but the long-standing lack of transparency has rendered supervision essentially ineffective.
Currently, most retired workers in Xiyawu Village can only receive basic pension insurance ranging from 1,420 to 1,500 yuan per month, making life quite difficult. Liu Yuzhen is one of them. She expressed, “They haven’t given us subsidies for three years. Nowadays, new retirees can earn three to four hundred yuan a day. But we haven’t been paid for three years; how can we survive with just this little over a thousand yuan?”
She mentioned that most retired workers do not have employee medical insurance, and they need to bear all medical expenses on their own. Many people are afraid to seek medical treatment because of the financial burden. “At this age, everyone has health issues. Some people are too afraid to see a doctor and would rather buy some medicine to cope. The common people are facing immense difficulties.”
Regarding the plight of retirees, some workers who have lost their spouses find it challenging to remarry due to financial stress. Widows who have lost their husbands can only rely on their children’s support to sustain their daily lives. Many male workers who are still able to work are forced to seek temporary jobs as security guards or do shift work to supplement their household income.
To reclaim the overdue payments of three years, retired workers from Xiyawu Village have been visiting the town government, district government, and city government since July, submitting their demands, but have not received any effective responses. The prolonged waiting and disappointment eventually turned into open expressions of rights on October 13.
Liu Yuzhen revealed that the rights protection WeChat group has over 330 members, but only 150 to 160 individuals actively participate in rights protection activities, as some are bedridden or others are injured, each facing their own challenges.
On that day, hundreds of villagers gathered in front of the Haigang District government. They elected representatives following the proper procedure, prepared registration forms and demands, hoping to have a face-to-face dialogue with the government officials in charge.
Liu Yuzhen recalled, “We completed the registration and wrote down our demands clearly, hoping to see the leaders in charge. After waiting quietly for over two hours, suddenly, under the order of an unknown leader, the strongest special police force was mobilized, forcibly taking away one of our representatives.”
The authorities’ crackdown actions have incensed the villagers. They surrounded the police cars, leading to physical conflicts between the two sides, with some villagers even climbing onto the engine hood of the police cars to protest.
Villager Zhang Fugui believes that “If villagers wish to know what they should know, public security forces can be arbitrarily mobilized; this indicates that there are indeed some problems behind the scenes.” There may be inappropriate relationships within the local power structure, resulting in public power being used to suppress legitimate expressions of rights.
Villagers point out, “After four months of rights protection, no town or district leaders have ever visited the village, offered condolences, or conducted on-site inspections.”
Liu Yuzhen said, “They had planned this all along.”
The incident in Xiyawu Village of Haigang District is not an isolated case. In June 2024, villagers in Hanzhangzi Village in Qinglong County, Qinhuangdao City, were also violently suppressed for protesting against village cadres illegally selling village land income, leading to the arrest of seven individuals.