Expropriation makes Chinese farmers lose farmland and changes livelihood

For three years farmers in Fuyou village had been fighting the government-backed developer who turned their land into a giant construction site.

三年来，富有村村民一直在对抗政府支持的开发商，后者将他们的土地变成了巨大的建筑工地。

China's rapid urbanisation has been driven primarily by the pull of higher wages in the city, and the opportunity to escape a life of back-breaking farm work. For three decades, cheap labour from the countryside has driven China's "economic miracle", as the nation's premier, Li Keqiang, acknowledged in an address in March.

中国快速城市化的首要动力来自城市较高工资的吸引，以及逃离繁重田间劳作的机会。中国总理李克强今年3月在发表讲话时承认，30年来，来自农村的廉价劳动力推动了中国的"经济奇迹"。

The rural population has dropped from 80 per cent of the total in 1980 to less than half now. Its contribution to the economy has shrunk even faster, to 9 per cent of gross domestic product from 30 per cent in 1980 — making the cities even more attractive.

中国的农村人口已经从1980年占总人口的80%，下降到现在的不到一半。农村对中国经济的贡献萎缩得甚至更快，从1980年占国内生产总值(GDP)的30%下降到了9%，这使得城市更具吸引力。

But there is an uglier "push" factor too. One-fifth of China's migrants have had no choice but to hit the road, because their land is gone.

但是，还存在一个比较丑陋的"推动"因素。中国五分之一的农民工别无选择，只能另找出路，因为他们已经没有了土地。 

Their numbers are staggering. A 2011 report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found that between 40m and 50m Chinese migrants, from a total of 250m, were landless due to expropriation. Another 3m people would lose their land every year, CASS estimated.

这部分人的数量令人震惊。中国社会科学院(CASS) 2011年发布的一份报告称，中国共计2.5亿农民工中，有4000万至5000万人已经因征地而成为失地农民。社科院估计，每年都将有300万农民失去自己的土地。

Officially, Beijing welcomes urbanisation. But growing numbers of people lack the rights and access to services of urban citizens because they are classed as "rural" under China's restrictive hukou registration system, and at the same time lack any farmland to fall back on. That could be a recipe for instability, especially as economic growth slows.

中央政府的官方立场是欢迎城市化。但是，越来越多的人享受不到城市居民的权利和服务，因为在中国限制性的户口登记制度下，他们被划归为"农民"，但与此同时他们又没有可以回乡依靠的田地。这可能诱发不稳定，尤其是在经济增长放缓的时候。

Independent calculations are even higher. The landless population has climbed sharply to 120m from 40m just 10 years ago, estimates Hu Xingdou, who researches migrant issues at the Beijing Institute of Technology.

独立估算得到的数字甚至更高。据北京理工大学(Beijing Institute of Technology)研究农民工问题的学者胡星斗估计，失地农民的人数已经从仅10年前的4000万急剧上升至1.2亿。 

For some Chinese, compensation for lost land is enough to fund a new urban life, or kick-start a small business as the city comes to them. But for millions it is not — setting the stage for desperate battles like the one that convulsed Fuyou.

对于有些中国农民来说，失地补偿足够让他们开始新的城市生活，或者作为在城里做点小生意的启动资金。但对于其他数百万失地农民，情况并非如此，这就为绝望的抗争（就像富有村的那场冲突一样）搭起了舞台。

Research by the Chinese Academy of Sciences indicates that "mass incidents" — the official euphemism for protests or riots — are, not surprisingly, more likely to occur if locals believe they are not being fairly compensated for their land.

中国科学院(CAS)的研究显示，在当地人认为自己失去土地而没有得到合理补偿的情况下，更有可能发生"群体性事件"——官方对抗议活动或骚乱的委婉说法。这一点显然并不令人意外。 

That is the case for about a dozen villages and 20,000 people farming the rich flat land of Jincheng township on the shores of Dianchi Lake, south of Kunming, Yunnan's capital. Thousands of acres have been cleared to make way for the local government's plan to transform the area into a $3.6bn "ancient city" tourist attraction with lakeside villas, high-rise apartments and, less scenically, an auto parts wholesale market.

这正是晋城镇（位于云南省会昆明以南滇池岸边）十几个村庄、约2万名在这片肥沃平坦的土地上耕种的村民的遭遇。数千英亩的土地被夷平，以便实施当地政府的规划，在这里建设一个36亿美元的"古城"旅游景区，配有湖边别墅、高层公寓以及一座与周边环境不协调的汽车配件批发市场。

Rise in violence

暴力事件不断增多

Across China, the number of violent clashes rose sharply after 2009, as debt-strapped local governments began selling land pledged as collateral to real estate developers. This has put local authorities, and the full weight of the security forces, squarely on the side of the developers.

随着债务缠身的地方政府开始将用作抵押的土地卖给房地产开发商，中国各地暴力冲突事件的数量在2009年之后大幅增多。这使得地方政府以及强大的治安力量都明确站到开发商一边。

In 2010, at least 16 land grabs or forced demolitions across China involved the death of at least one person, according to a "blood house map" compiled from state media, compared with only a handful of cases in the rest of the decade.

根据官媒报道绘制的"血房地图"显示，2010年，中国各地至少有16起征地或强拆事件造成至少一人死亡，相比之下，21世纪头10年的其余年份发生的此类事件不多。

Farm land in China belongs to the state or the village collective, while the families who have farmed it for centuries legally only hold a 30-year title. Villagers have no say when the government sells the land to a developer, but those who put up a tougher fight can often wrestle a greater share of the revenues.

在中国，农业用地归国家或村集体所有，而世代耕种这些土地的农民家庭在法律上只有30年的使用权。政府将土地卖给开发商时，村民没有任何发言权，但那些激烈抗争的村民常常能够争取到较多补偿。

The drive to sell often means that seizures for "development" outpace the natural growth of the city, contributing to the miles of empty ghost towns that surround many Chinese cities.

卖地的动力根源往往意味着，为"开发"而征收土地的速度超过了城市的自然增长，导致中国许多城市周边出现连绵数英里的空荡荡的鬼城。

Resistance around Dianchi Lake is so fierce partly because farmers there make an unusually good living growing fresh vegetables that are packaged in local warehouses and shipped across China. Fuyou villagers were offered Rmb90,000 ($14,516) per mu (15 mu equal one hectare). That is about four times the national average for compensation but less than other nearby villages received, and much less than the national formula based on a multiple of annual crop income.

滇池周边抵制征地如此激烈的部分原因在于，这里的农民靠种植新鲜蔬菜（在当地仓库包装并发往全国各地）本来过着不错的生活。向富有村村民提议的补偿是每亩（15亩等于一公顷）9万元人民币（合1.4516万美元）。这大概是全国平均补偿水平的4倍，但低于附近其他村庄得到的补偿，且远低于根据年度作物收入倍数的国家标准计算出的数额。 

"It seems like a lot, but around here it only works out to about two years' income," says the Fuyou villager . "Some people have nothing else to live on, they would have to leave to find work. Around here people don't like to migrate. We like to stick close to home."

"看起来好像很多，但在我们这里，只相当于大约两年的收入，"前述富有村的村民说。"有些人没有别的生计，他们将不得不外出打工。这里的人们不喜欢迁居。我们喜欢留守家园。" 

That's borne out by the statistics. Poor rural counties in China have seen an outflow in their registered population as working age adults leave to find work. But the population of Jincheng township has stayed flat. Young people find service jobs in nearby towns, while their parents continue to farm nearby.

这个说法得到了统计数据的印证。随着劳动年龄成年人外出打工，中国很多贫困的农业县都出现了户籍人口外流现象。但晋城镇的人口一直保持平稳。年轻人在附近的城镇从事服务业，而他们的父母继续在村里种地。 

Land grabs disrupt the transition to urban life by pushing people away faster and further than planned. Young adult migrants must support parents who have lost farming income. If village homes are destroyed, compensation funds can disappear into the cost of a new home.

强征土地打乱了城镇化的正常进程，比规划更快、更远地把农民驱离土地。年轻一代的农民工不得不抚养失去农业收入的父母。如果村里的房屋被拆毁，补偿款可能只够安置新居。

That calculation is already weighing on the village of Anjiang in Jincheng township only a few miles from Fuyou. About 50 Anjiang villagers were injured in a pitched battle with demolition crews and police in April 2013.

在同属晋城镇、距离富有村只有几英里的安江村，村民们已经在权衡这种得失。2013年4月，大约50名安江村村民在与拆迁者和警察的打斗中受伤。

Two years later, the village is surrounded by rubble although nothing new has been built. With nowhere to farm, many of Anjiang's 3,000 residents have joined the "floating population" of itinerant agricultural labourers, leaving behind old folks and children.

两年后，该村被瓦砾包围着，尽管没有新施工作业。在无地可耕的情况下，安江村3000多村民中，许多人加入了由进城务工的农民构成的"流动人口"，村里只剩下留守的老人和儿童。

"Before we were poor but the family was together," an Anjiang shopkeeper says. "Now people are spread to the four winds."

"以前我们虽然穷，但一家人还在一起，"安江村一家商店的店主说，"现在大家都四散谋生了。"