In 2023, heavy rainfall in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region led to the government releasing floodwaters to protect Xiong’an, resulting in severe flooding in villages in Hebei such as Zhuozhou and Handan, causing significant losses. The authorities responded by constructing reservoirs and embankments after the floods, leading to land acquisitions from villagers with inadequate compensation, sparking public grievances.
According to information from China’s Water Resources website, the Hebei Water Resources Department planned 1,659 key water projects this year, with a total investment of 274.7 billion yuan. In the first quarter, 1,655 projects completed preliminary work, 783 projects started construction, with investments totaling 15.1 billion yuan.
On June 22, at the construction site of the Louli Reservoir in Wu’an City, the construction party hired hundreds of enforcers to forcibly acquire land in Nanshouhe Village, Wu’an City, provoking protesting villagers.
Video footage showed villagers obstructing construction in front of excavators, while construction personnel gathered, with a woman shouting about the forced acquisition and demolition of the Louli Reservoir, leading to a villager being taken away by an ambulance.
The villagers in the video are from Nanshouhe Village, who protested on-site as they were dissatisfied with the lack of compensation before construction started. One villager told a reporter that a CCTV reporter had previously come to cover the issue but was driven away by the construction party. This was mainly due to inadequate compensation and the failure to provide relocation housing before demolition began.
The villager emphasized that there were many problems in this project beyond just the compensation issue.
Zhou, responsible for the land acquisition and resettlement for this water project, confirmed to reporters that the compensation plan had not been finalized when construction had already commenced. He mentioned that the government was striving to secure a plan for nearby relocation sites, but the possibility of a one-time compensation for dispersed settlements was high.
Some villagers expressed that a one-time compensation was not appropriate, as it should ensure that the villagers’ original production and living standards are not lowered, securing long-term livelihoods.
Information indicated that the Louli Reservoir project is located at the confluence of the Ming River, Mahui River, and Mud River in Louli Village on the border of Wu’an City and Yongnian District. The project includes a total storage capacity of 291 million cubic meters, with main constructions such as a river dam, dam area roads, downstream river protection, reservoir bank protection, and resettlement sites. The total construction period is estimated at 50 months, with a total investment of approximately 10.467 billion yuan.
It was reported that this project involved 13 villages. On June 10, villagers from Zhaoyao Village also went to the construction site to prevent work, resulting in one villager being taken away by an ambulance.
Since the floods, the Guanxianying Village in Baichi Township, Zhuozhou City, started constructing dams, and began acquiring villagers’ land since last year. The villagers had expected substantial compensation but discovered officials at various levels were embezzling national compensation funds through clandestine operations.
A villager named Li Jincheng revealed to reporters that the land acquisition for this project began in April last year, with a notice from the municipal government posted at the village committee in early May informing villagers of their land expropriation.
Li Jincheng’s family had 5 mu of land acquired, and each mu was compensated over 110,000 yuan, but they have not received any compensation to date. Moreover, the demarcation of the land acquisition area lacks clear standards.
Li Jincheng and other villagers have been petitioning since last year, escalating from the village committee to the provincial discipline inspection commission, but to no avail.
Through their petitioning efforts, they uncovered many irregularities in the project. They learned that the national compensation funds issued were 190 million yuan, but the local government claimed to have only distributed 90 million yuan.
Li Jincheng further disclosed that the village secretary colluded with the town government to embezzle compensation funds. There was a village bully who illicitly mined sand and gravel, rumored to have extraordinary connections in Beijing. Relying on their background, this person acted with impunity in the village, with villagers too afraid to speak out. “Our investigation discovered that the village secretary allocated 350 mu of land to the village bully, profiting 40 million yuan in compensation funds for the bully’s sole benefit.”
“They just don’t want to give this money to the common folks. They distributed the compensation funds to their relatives and friends with power, omitting those without land from receiving compensation. It’s infuriating,” Li Jincheng said.
Another villager also stated, “Village leaders told us common villagers that our land was acquired and not within the compensation scope. However, even those without land but with close ties to village leaders could receive compensation for a few mu of land. Those who have no connections are completely disregarded, even if they are facing financial hardships at home.”
An industry insider from Yunnan, Zhang Zhenglin, previously commented to a reporter from Epoch Times, saying, “The corruption in Chinese engineering construction is just the tip of the iceberg under the rule of the Communist Party.” Zhang Zhenglin believed that it was the Party’s system that bred these issues, as officials shirk accountability to the people and avoid addressing the core problems, leading to a vicious cycle.
Epoch Times reporters attempted to reach relevant departments of the government in Zhuozhou and Wu’an City but either received no answer or were promptly hung up on during phone interviews.