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In rural China, land disputes are one of the most common sources of conflict.
This village in Haorao Township, Inner Mongolia, near Siberia, is no exception.
Since the central government cancelled centuries-old agricultural taxes,
the village of 8,000 has enjoyed new prosperity.
But some of the poorest farmers feel they are being left behind due to old land disputes.
My name is Xu Shuhai. I'm 41 years old.
This is my land.
In 1994 and 1995 drought destroyed my crops. I couldn't pay my annual land fee.
In 1997 the local government confiscated my land.
After the drought, the village Communist Party Committee reclaimed some land.
But farmers with government connections or money got to keep their land.
Most of our land was controlled by the then-village leader.
I had no land, so I had to get by on temporary jobs.
At the time, school wasn't free.
I couldn't pay the fees, so my son stopped school for two years.
I heard the news of the new land rights regulation while at a wedding.
I can't read so I asked someone to read it for me.
Article four on page four is extremely clear. Farmers can get back their land.
Farmers' land may not be confiscated due to failure to pay land taxes.
The local government didn't inform us at all about this.
They kept it a secret. We had to learn about it from outsiders.
Court House
Twelve families filed lawsuits.
Nine families that had connections, money or influence got their land back.
They only appealed the cases filed by we three families with no money.
We three families are economically disadvantaged.
Judge
Even if the law is on my side, I can't win if I don't have money.
All I have is this crumbling house.
I can't afford to sink a well. We depend on the neighbor for water.
In the future, my dream is to build a house like these.
If I hadn't lost my fields for eight years, I would be on a par with them.
Xu Shuhai's case was retried four times. He still hasn't recovered his land.