Without the knowledge of many villagers, relevant departments in Jianxi District, Luoyang City, Henan Province, forged villagers' signatures to obtain land approval for the whole-village renovation of Xiaosuo Village and Yujiagou Village. Among the "signed" villagers, some had even been dead for many years. Subsequently, Jianxi District used the land approval with forged villagers' signatures to carry out forced land requisition and demolition of some villagers' land and houses, arousing villagers' dissatisfaction. The reporter learned through interviews that a series of chaotic land requisition and demolition phenomena triggered by this incident reflect problems such as the lack of legislation on compensation for agricultural land requisition, the misconduct of government power, and the imperfect grassroots villagers' autonomy, which are becoming increasingly prominent against the backdrop of rapid urbanization and urgently need attention.
　　A forged land requisition compensation form exposes the shady dealings of illegal land requisition
　　Xiaosuo Village and Yujiagou Village are located in the Advanced Manufacturing Agglomeration Area of Jianxi District, Luoyang City. In July 2012, the Jianxi District Government signed a whole-village renovation agreement with Henan Zhengshang Real Estate Co., Ltd., deciding to invest 4 billion yuan for the renovation and development of 1,540 mu of land in the two villages.
　　Nearly two years later, some projects have already started construction. While many villagers' houses and farmland in the two villages have been demolished and occupied, the villagers have not yet received compensation. In October 2013, villagers of Yujiagou Village accidentally obtained from the Jianxi District Land Bureau a detailed land requisition compensation table bearing villagers' names and found that relevant departments in Jianxi District had actually forged villagers' signatures in the requisition compensation plan, thereby smoothly "defrauding" higher-level land approval.
　　On a detailed agricultural land requisition compensation table provided to the reporter by villagers of Yujiagou Village, the reporter saw that all 22 households of villagers had signed and affixed their fingerprints on the detailed housing requisition compensation table amounting to more than 7.8 million yuan. Below the form, not only were the official seals of the Gongnong Subdistrict Office of Jianxi District and the Yujiagou Village Committee affixed, but also the signatures of the heads of the above two institutions.
　　"This is completely fabricated by the village committee and the government," said villager Li Genluo. In October 2013, staff of the demolition command center set up by the district government in the village told the villagers that the village was to be requisitioned and demolished for a real estate company's development. The villagers disagreed and went to the Jianxi District Land Bureau to request the land requisition procedures, and accidentally discovered this form. Apart from village party secretary Li Haozhi, the other 21 households of villagers had never signed any similar compensation list.
　　The reporter took this commitment letter and visited each household and found that these villagers were completely unaware of the government's forged detailed land requisition compensation table. "The land department people said the forged villagers' compensation table was for reporting land procedures to higher authorities, but my father Li Siyu has been dead for 12 years, yet they forged his signature and took away 390,000 yuan in compensation. Where did this money go?" said villager Li Hongwei.
　　At the strong request of the villagers, in November 2013, the Jianxi District Land Bureau issued a "statement of circumstances" to the villagers of Yujiagou Village and Xiaosuo Village, acknowledging that the approved land procedures "indeed had flaws." In this regard, the main person in charge of the Jianxi District Land Bureau said: "According to normal land requisition procedures, without villagers' signatures, the land approval would definitely not pass, but the approval requires at least 18 to 20 months, and project construction simply cannot wait. Informing the villagers and having grassroots departments sign on their behalf is a common practice in many places."
　　Rapid urban expansion highlights chaos in agricultural land disputes
　　Although the Jianxi District Land Bureau explained to the villagers that the villagers' compensation procedures forged by the village committee and grassroots government departments were only to speed up land approval and would not cause economic losses to the villagers, and that the actual compensation for villagers would ultimately be based on the compensation agreement reviewed by the finance department, most villagers were still dissatisfied: "For such a big matter as land requisition and demolition, why were the villagers completely unaware? Two or three people used forged procedures to pass the approval and requisitioned the village collective's property, and then used illegal land approval to carry out forced requisition and demolition. Do the villagers have no say at all?"
　　In fact, since 2011, Yujiagou Village and Xiaosuo Village have successively launched about 10 whole-village renovation and development projects, occupying more than 1,000 mu of land. The reporter saw at the scene that the two villages, originally located in remote suburbs, have merged into one and are surrounded by newly built roads. Not far away, high-rise buildings stand in great numbers, and construction sites enclosed by walls can be seen everywhere in the villages, just like a huge construction site.
　　During the requisition and demolition process, questions such as misconduct of government power, forced occupation, requisition and demolition, lax villagers' autonomous organizations, unfair distribution of collective property, and collusion between officials and businessmen have left many villagers dissatisfied. Villagers reported that in August 2011, the first supporting road project for village renovation started, and the construction team entered the village overnight and bulldozed hundreds of mu of vegetable fields. Until now, the land is still barren and cannot be cultivated. In 2012, when peaches were about to be marketed, villager Zhang Hanyun's peach orchard was completely bulldozed, and not a single cent of compensation was received...
　　Li Zhenwu, former village director of Yujiagou Village, who has experienced several forced occupations, requisitions and demolitions, said: "When the country carries out construction, ordinary people all support it, but could they inform the villagers and handle things according to law and reason?" Many villagers reported that since the village renovation began, the government has set up a demolition command center, but has never held a villagers' meeting. Sometimes there was only a notice, and people did not even know what project it was, yet their houses and farmland disappeared in a muddle.
　　In 2013, Penglai Road passing through Yujiagou Village started construction, demolishing more than 60 rural houses, of which 4 households were forcibly demolished. As a result, villagers found that the project did not even have project approval or land requisition procedures. In 2013, due to the construction of West Ring Road, Zhang Xiaoping's home in Xiaosuo Village was forcibly demolished. Afterwards, Zhang Xiaoping applied one by one to local development and reform, planning and other departments for government information disclosure, and found that many projects in the village had no project approval or land procedures at all. Even projects that had obtained relevant procedures mostly started construction before approval and later went through formalities after creating a fait accompli.
　　Irregular agricultural land requisition infringes on people's rights and interests
　　Since China currently has a legislative gap regarding compensation for requisition of rural collective land, the recognized practice is for villagers to vote on agricultural land requisition in accordance with the "four discussions and two disclosures." Meeting records of the party member meeting and villagers' representative meeting before the village renovation provided to the reporter by villagers of Yujiagou Village show that the party members and villagers' representatives present had all agreed to the village renovation plan.
　　However, informed villagers pointed out that 16 of the 20 villagers' representatives who signed the meeting records were no longer representatives at that time. In addition, all 35 party members in the village signed the meeting records, but at least 4 of them were not present and were "signed." A party member who signed said: "No such meeting was ever held at all. The signature was only for receiving the 200 yuan attendance fee."
　　The government and developer factors behind the lax grassroots village organizations are even more thought-provoking. Announcements of the village committees provided to the reporter by villagers of Yujiagou Village and Xiaosuo Village show that in August, September and October 2013, arranged by the developer, village committee cadres of the two villages, some villagers' representatives and civil servants at the district and township levels went in three batches on inspection tours to Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Beijing and other places, lasting more than 20 days.
　　At the same time, the high debts brought by demolition also made villagers dissatisfied. In 2013, several houses of villager Zhang Xiaojuan were demolished. According to the housing exchange agreement provided by the government, the total compensation was 236,000 yuan. However, according to the resettlement standard of 1,800 yuan per square meter and 60 square meters per villager, Zhang Xiaojuan's three-person household needed to pay 347,000 yuan for resettlement housing. This means that after the demolition and renovation, Zhang Xiaojuan's family not only received no additional cash compensation but also went into debt by 111,000 yuan.
　　Such cases are not few. Before the resettlement housing was built, many villagers whose houses had been demolished had already incurred debts ranging from tens of thousands to more than 400,000 yuan. At the same time, cases of some returning households with "connections and relationships" making huge profits from the whole-village renovation can also be found everywhere. During the reporter's interviews in Yujiagou and Xiaosuo villages, villagers handed over nearly a hundred pages of various appeal materials, while some grassroots government personnel avoided the villagers from afar, and some village cadres claimed to be ill and refused to meet.
　　During the interview, 64-year-old Li Tian, a woman from Yujiagou Village whose house had not yet been demolished, still followed the villagers to petition every day. She said: "No one in the government has explained the demolition compensation clearly. I will keep petitioning, otherwise if my house is really demolished one day, it will be too late!" Like Li Tian, there are not a few villagers full of fear about land requisition and house demolition. Villagers frankly said that the nearby South Village is an example.
　　It is understood that South Village, which borders Yujiagou and Xiaosuo villages to the west, had almost all its farmland occupied after the whole-village renovation, and the villagers' rations are currently distributed by the village collective as welfare. Elderly Chen Yueling, who has experienced two forced demolitions, said that the requisition of her house is still in the administrative reconsideration process. "The first forced demolition did not leave me a single piece of furniture, and the second forced demolition almost cost me my life. No one paid attention even when I reported it to the police. Where can I seek justice for the government's illegal actions?"