VZCZCXRO0955
OO RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHGZ #0544/01 1300857
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O 100857Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6034
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC 0950
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RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000544 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM AND DRL 
USDA FOR FAS/ITP AND FAS/FAA 
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI EAGR EINV CH
SUBJECT: Land and Corruption Blamed for Gurao Riots 
 
REFERENCE: A: Guangzhou 398; B) Guangzhou 353; C) Guangzhou 06 
32440; D) 06 Guangzhou 32264; E) 06 Guangzhou 11684; F) 06 Guangzhou 
2194; G) 05 Guangzhou 32000; H) 05 Guangzhou 31940; I) 04 Guangzhou 
37430 
 
(U) This document is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Riots over land sales and disputes over ownership 
in Gurao Town, in east Guangdong in early May underline again the 
fragile state of the social compact in the rapidly changing, 
oft-times corrupt south China environment.  Local angry farmers in 
more than a dozen villages reportedly attacked and looted the houses 
of local village officials, who they blamed for illegally selling 
village farmland and pocketing the proceeds.  According to local 
press, police were instructed not to take strong action in handling 
the riots for the sake of maintaining "social harmony."  End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Gurao Town is one of China's major underwear manufacturing 
bases, and has about 400 textile factories and 1,000 workshops.  It 
is northwest of downtown Shantou.  Congenoff visited the town in 
2004 (ref I) and was impressed by its prosperity i.e., as an island 
of wealth standing alone amid an ocean of poor villages.  Commenting 
on the riots, Hong Kong's Ming Pao said officials in local villages 
often undersell local farmland to enterprises and pocket all or part 
of the money. 
 
Village Officials' Houses Looted and Damaged 
------------------ -------------------------- 
¶3. (SBU) According to a May 8 Ming Pao article, residents of several 
villages in Gurao gathered at the homes of local officials homes 
during China's May holidays to seek an explanation for recent land 
sales.  The situation soon escalated, with the farmers allegedly 
removing valuables from the homes and damaging property.  The wife 
of a former village chief told Ming Pao that her house was plundered 
by about 100 villagers on May 2; another village official claimed to 
have been harassed by farmers who broke into his house at midnight. 
Many village officials fled their homes, according to the news 
reports.  Official from Daken and Daheng villages also reported 
attacks, but no casualties. 
 
Organization of Villagers 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Media reports imply that the riots were organized.  Ming 
Pao said that there was a "Land Maintenance Group" in Gurao which 
encouraged villagers to take actions against corrupt local 
officials.  Members of the group handed out printed notices to 
people with the slogan "Do not wrong a single good person, but spare 
no bad one."  A journalist reportedly witnessed several farmers on 
bicycles in Gurao's town center on May 8 calling for villagers to 
participate in reporting corruption.  In some villages, people 
reportedly used gongs to guide villagers to official's homes to loot 
and damage. 
 
Little Action by Local Police 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Media reports say the police have taken little action to 
stop the riots.  Zhang Yingyong, a township official in Gurao, told 
reporters that he and his staff were surrounded by several hundred 
people in a local village and prevented them from leaving.  Police 
arrived and dispersed the villagers but did not take further action, 
likely to prevent further exacerbating a volatile situation. 
 
The local district and township governments also sent working groups 
to begin a dialogue with disaffected villagers.  Many officials were 
verbally abused by villagers and both sides assaulted one another 
physically. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Following the Dongzhou incident in 2005 (reftels B, G, H,), 
after which local officials and police were disciplined, local 
governments have been more cautious in handling social unrest, 
especially where it affects issues of land and eminent domain.  The 
upcoming annual session of the Guangdong CPC, which will be held May 
18, may be another reason the government has not escalated the 
situation.  The scale and duration of the riots over several days 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000544  002 OF 002 
 
 
indicate the likelihood of serious land corruption in the area. 
Local villagers are becoming more socially aware and organized in 
defending their interests, though we do not know whether they had 
outside assistance such as occurred earlier with the rights 
protection movement here.  Villagers may now believe that some level 
of violence and looting is the only way to convey their anger 
against local officials accused of corruption, but whether these 
actions ultimately rebound against them remains to be seen. 
 
GOLDBERG