Maotai town stops forced relocation

City officials in Renhuai, Guizhou Province, apologized yesterday for violent attempts to evict dozens of shop owners who refused to comply with a renovation plan, coinciding with an urgent notice by the central government over forced evictions.

"The project will be put on hold. We apologize for what we have done and are ready to hear opinions from those shop owners on the renovation," said a press release sent by the city government to the Global Times.

The release was referring to recent property removal disputes that occurred on Huanmao South Street in the town of Maotai, the place of origin of the famous Moutai liquor.

According to a report by China Central Television (CCTV), there are 134 shops on the street. On April 26, town officials surveyed the business each shop was engaged in and issued a notice May 1 requiring all the shops that did not sell Chinese liquor to move by May 3, without mentioning either a new location or any plan for compensation.

Due to the lack of preparation and fear of huge financial losses, many shop owners refused to move. They told CCTV that after May 3, town officials and policemen began to force them out.

"They sacked my shop like robbers, taking away everything that could be loaded onto their truck. I told them that what they were doing was illegal, but they replied, 'We know nothing about law,'" one of the shop owners told CCTV.

When asked by CCTV about the forced ouster, Yuan Rentao, the deputy town chief in charge of the project, said the renovation plan was aimed at building a baijiu street to promote Chinese liquor culture, and that those who refused to move violated town regulations.

"There is no plan for compensation because of a lack of funds," Yuan told the television channel.

According to the press release by the city government, Yuan has been suspended from his post.

"Compensation will be arranged for some of the shop owners," the statement said. "The renovation plan was approved by the local legislature in 2010, and public opinion was sought before releasing the relocation notice."

However, one local shop owner told CCTV that they knew nothing about the project before receiving the relocation notice.

This is not the first attempt by the authorities to polish the town's image. In 2009, the provincial government announced a plan to move 15,000 people out of Maotai town over five years to facilitate the production of Moutai liquor.

Some experts said the town's high population of 25,000 people would lead to pollution and a shortage of natural water, affecting liquor production.

Shen Kui, a professor and deputy director of the Law School of Peking University, told the Global Times that Yuan and other officials failed to conduct the removal process legally.
"Before implementation, any governmental planning needs to be widely discussed among those who could be affected," Shen said. "Local authorities should have kept shop owners' losses to a minimum by waiting for their rental contracts to expire or come up with a compensation plan. But what they did was the opposite."

The Renhuai government statement came on the same day that the Ministry of Land and Resources issued an urgent notice asking local departments to monitor forced evictions and demolitions in a bid to protect the people's interests.

Supervision should be stepped up and proper compensation should be given to those whose homes are demolished, and more efforts should be made to help with their relocation and ensuing difficulties, the notice said, adding that reasonable requests from members of the public should be properly answered.

The notice came after a series of similar incidents.

On May 9, a 53-year-old man in Xinghua, Jiangsu Province set himself on fire in protest at a court ruling to demolish a public bathroom that he had been running for more than 10 years. On April 22, a 58-year-old farmer in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, also committed suicide while resisting the forced demolition of his home by property developers.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, Chinese lawmakers submitted a new draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in April for its fourth reading of a draft Law on Administrative Coercion.

The new draft said that if the administrative agencies decided to extend the period for sealing or seizing properties, equipment or places due to regulation violations, they should give timely notice and explanations to the parties involved.

Huang Jingjing contributed to this story