BEIJING – A new account of the gruesome death of a village leader fighting for better compensation for seized land is renewing suspicions of police involvement and adding to a growing credibility issue for China's government.
Officials have seemed powerless to control information about Qian Yunhui's death ever since photos began appearing online showing him being crushed under the wheel of a large red truck on Christmas outside his village where he and others had earlier blocked the road to prevent construction of a power plant. Angry essays have circulated on the Internet, and academics, activists and journalists have organized independent probes.
The persisting suspicions about Qian's death reflect a growing lack of trust in China's government as rampant corruption and official abuse erode public confidence.
The latest report emerged Thursday, posted by reporter Liu Jianfeng of the China Economic Times newspaper on his blog after he spent eight days visiting Qian's Zhaiqiao village. It cited a witness who described seeing four men in helmets and dark blue riot police uniforms — without badges — using police batons to beat the tall and sturdy 53-year-old Qian to the ground. A red truck was parked on the road about 15 feet (five meters) away, Liu cited the witness as saying.
"After they pinned him down, they waved and shouted to the truck to come over," he quoted the witness as saying. "The truck slowly drove over, and two of the men jumped aside while the other two held Qian down. Just behind the truck there were also about 20 men in riot police uniforms."
Yang Youcai, a spokesman for the Communist Party in Yueqing city, which oversees Zhaiqiao, would not comment other than to say police previously announced results of an investigation. That investigation concluded that Qian died in a road accident, an explanation which drew derisive criticism online.
Liu said he posted his report on his blog because the newspaper would not carry it. He declined to comment further, citing his newspaper's policy.
His report is among the most detailed to emerge from the village of 3,700, where police have imposed tight surveillance since Qian's death. Two other witnesses who spoke out after his death, saying they saw him being held down by a few men while being run over by the truck, were later said by police to have retracted their statements.
Most residents have been too frightened by reports of police detentions to speak to reporters, Qian's daughter-in-law Qian Shuangping said in a phone interview. "The villagers are all afraid to talk because they don't want to be taken away. Many of them don't even dare to sleep in their own homes at night," she said.
Qian's death is the latest violent incident to touch a nerve among the Chinese public, angry over official corruption and abuse of power, including unfair seizure of farmers' land for development. The authoritarian government, which rose to power promising to promote farmers' welfare, has tried to prove responsive while attempting to control reports about the conflict in Zhaiqiao village.
"The credibility of the government, or the legitimacy of the government to a certain extent, is so fragile at this time," said Yawei Liu, director of the Atlanta-based Carter Center's China program, which monitors rural elections and governance. "People tend to believe in gossip and rumors rather than the official statements. That's something that is very alarming and has to be addressed."
Qian, a poorly educated but entrepreneurial farmer, became a hero to the villagers he served by lobbying the government for fair compensation after it seized village land six years ago to build the large power plant. He was arrested three times, his daughter-in-law said, and each time returned to the fray with popular support.
His blockade of a key transport route just days before his death forced costly delays in construction work at the power plant, angering truckers as well as officials, according to the China Business Journal.
Inconsistencies in police accounts of Qian's death have fueled the public skepticism. Among the discrepancies are police claims that a roadside surveillance camera had malfunctioned, failing to record Qian being crushed under the truck but capturing a scuffle between villagers and police hours later.
Liu's record also includes other allegations of police malfeasance — Qian's son-in-law was quoted as saying he was beaten by police during questioning, while one key witness, an elderly woman, was apparently intimidated by police.
Also missing is Qian's body. Police removed it from the site and the family is unsure of its whereabouts, his daughter-in-law said. "We don't know what to do to resolve this. We want the body back to bury it so that he can rest in peace."
