VZCZCXRO5973
RR RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0152/01 1660318
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 150318Z JUN 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2538
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 3067

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000152 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM 
NSC FOR CHRISTINA COLLINS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/15/2017 
TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI CH
SUBJECT: LOCAL ISSUES DRIVE DISTURBANCES IN SOUTHWEST CHINA 
 
REF: BEIJING 3831 
 
CHENGDU 00000152  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: James Boughner, Acting Consul General, Chengdu, 
Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Early summer has seen the occurrence of several 
public disturbances in southwest China.  Efforts by authorities 
to crack down on illegal vendors brought many people onto the 
streets in Chongqing, and a similar case in Chengdu resulted in 
the severe beating of a bystander.  Although still unconfirmed, 
several ethnic Tibetans may have died in a protest in western 
Sichuan over mining in an area regarded as sacred by locals. 
Most anger appears directed at local officials and not the 
Central Government - but discussions with locals revealed 
memories of the 1989 democracy movement are still alive among 
older residents.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
FLASHPOINT: FLOWER VENDORS IN CHONGQING 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Although local media were apparently banned from 
reporting on the incident, Hong Kong and international media 
carried stories about a "riot" involving as many as 10,000 
people in the Nan'an district of Chongqing on June 9.  According 
to those reports (including one in the June 10 edition of Hong 
Kong's South China Morning Post), municipal enforcement 
authorities attempted a crackdown on unlicensed flower vendors, 
and may have used excessive force resulting in the death of at 
least one man.  As locals heard about the crackdown, they poured 
into the streets to protest, only to face "hundreds" of rapidly 
mustered police. 
 
¶3. (C) Despite the local news blackout on the disturbance, 
several blogs ran descriptions of the incident.  Most of those 
blogs appear to have been shut down soon afterwards, but as of 
June 13 one was still functioning, and included photos of angry 
crowds, as well as people apparently lying unconscious in the 
street after an alleged beating.  See 
. 
 
¶4. (C) Local officials issued no statement, but one employee of 
the Nan'an District City Management Team Office contacted by 
phone by Consulate staff confirmed the riot had indeed occurred. 
 However, the employee (who did not give her name) characterized 
the event as "not as serious as reported online."  She said that 
several illegal flower sellers had indeed been temporarily 
hospitalized as the result of injuries, but claimed no one had 
died.  She also alleged that five city inspectors had been 
injured in the fray, one seriously.  She blamed the incident on 
the failure of the flower sellers to obey the law, despite 
repeated warnings. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Background note: The Nan'an District is part of the 
downtown Chongqing Municipality, with a population of 
approximately 450,000.  The disturbance occurred on Danzhishi 
Street, which is located in an industrial and commercial area. 
As is the case in Chongqing generally, the area is home to many 
displaced farmers and migrant workers, and street vending is a 
source of income for many of these relatively uneducated 
individuals. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
FLASHPOINT: VEGETABLE SELLERS IN CHENGDU 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) An unusually pointed article in the June 12 edition of 
the "Chengdu Today" newspaper carried a photograph of a young 
man lying unconscious on the ground, with the apparently ironic 
caption "City Enforcement Officials: One Man Attacked Seven of 
Us."  The text of the accompanying article said that enforcement 
officials had swept through a vegetable market in Chengdu, only 
to encounter heckling from a crowd, including the 20 year-old 
man who was the subject of the photograph.  Seven of the 
officers then allegedly beat the young man severely, afterwards 
claiming that he had attacked them.  Meanwhile, other bystanders 
called the police emergency number to complain about the 
excessive use of force, and another photo showed a large group 
of horrified-looking onlookers with the caption, "A Crowd Points 
Out the Enforcement Officials."  The overall tone of the article 
was highly critical of the enforcement officials and of their 
attempts to justify their actions.  The article did not specify 
the total number of people involved in the disturbance. 
 
¶7. Background note: The unlicensed sale of local produce has 
apparently become a source of friction between urban and rural 
residents in Chengdu.  Farmers seeking higher prices for their 
 
CHENGDU 00000152  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
produce often enter the city and attempt to sell from unlicensed 
stalls.  At the same time, the city's neighborhood associations 
earn money from renting space in established produce markets, 
and complain to authorities of the loss of income due to 
unlicensed sellers. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
FLASHPOINT: MINING DEVELOPMENT IN A TIBETAN AREA 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Interrnational wire services carried an article on June 
11 claiming that more than 400 ethnic Tibetans in western 
Sichuan's Daofu County (Ganzi Prefecture) had clashed with 
police and local government officials on May 27.  The action was 
characterized as a protest against mining development on a 
mountain (Yalashan) regarded as sacred.  According to the 
article, local residents alleged that several ethnic Tibetans 
were killed and others arrested, although official sources 
denied this.  The Consulate has to date been unable to obtain 
independent confirmation of this incident. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT SEEN FAVORABLY, BUT 1989 NOT FORGOTTEN 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶8. (C) Following these events, and following the recent 
publication in the Chengdu Evening News of a small classified ad 
expressing sympathy for those involved in the 1989 crackdown 
against democracy protesters (reftel), Congenoff interviewed a 
number of local residents on their attitude toward their 
government, and on their knowledge of history. 
 
¶9. (C) Most subjects born after 1980 had little or no knowledge 
of the Tiananmen protests, or of the associated events in 
Chengdu.  Most expressed little or no interest in national 
politics generally, and when asked about governmental 
shortcomings, most pointed to corruption among local officials. 
A common complaint was increased housing prices, which many 
blamed on improper real estate deals by the rich and powerful. 
One young woman, a doctoral student in philosophy, told of a 
recent discussion with her peers on the problems of China's 
government, in which the general consensus was, "the Central 
Government is doing a good job, but local governments are 
obstructing the implementation of its policies."  She also said 
that most students expressed the belief that corruption was far 
more commonplace among local officials. 
 
¶10. (C) When prompted, older residents recalled the events of 
¶1989.  A 55 year-old taxi driver became quite serious when asked 
about the meaning of "6-4," saying "blood ran like a river in 
the streets then."  He added, "That was in the past, a long time 
ago."  Another interviewee, an artist in her 30s, said she 
understood that the crackdown in Chengdu was China's second 
bloodiest after Beijing, and she remembered that many students 
from her middle school had gone to participate in the protests. 
A member of Consulate's LES staff told of a professor at Sichuan 
Normal University who maintained such indignation over the 
crackdown that he had managed to buy license plates for his car 
with the numbers "6489" on them. 
 
--------------------------- 
COMMENT: IT'S LOCAL, MOSTLY 
--------------------------- 
 
¶11. (C) At this point, most of Southwest China's recent social 
disturbances appear to be limited in their focus, arising out of 
perceptions of abusive or illegal actions by local officials, 
perhaps exacerbated by rich-poor and urban-rural tensions (of 
course, the Daofu County incident may involve more complicated 
ethnic issues as well).  Although older residents often remember 
the 1989 crackdown vividly, their memories do not seem to 
translate into anger against China's Central Government - and 
those memories may be fading quickly.  Even though the sources 
of anger may be local, though, they may also indicate a deeper 
shift in attitudes: heightened expectations of the fair 
administration of government, and an increased willingness to 
express anger when those expectations are not met. 
BOUGHNER