Villagers stand at the area where mountains used to be. Photo: Courtesy of Wang Zhenyu

For Zhang Weihua and her family, she is not exaggerating when she describes her family's recent tragedy as one of the worst nightmares ever: Her parents' tombs, which sat on a mountain for 19 years in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, disappeared one night. When she discovered that the tombs and her parent's remains were gone, she also saw that the five mountains, which once surrounded the area, had also been removed.

She discovered that the mountainous area had been turned into a huge pool with broken coffins scattered all over the place. "We tried to dig out our parents' bones for six days in the mud while under a burning sun," Zhang told the Global Times.

They found her father's remains after recognizing the old cotton-padded clothes that he was buried in, but her mother's remains are still missing.

Illegal digging

The mountains that were destroyed belong to the Zhangle village, which is supposed to be a part of an economic and technological development zone in Zhuji.

The area had been excavated by workers who wanted the mountain's mixture of rocks and mud, which is soft and good for paving roads or filling the base of a construction site. The mountains there are loose and can be easily dug out by a simple excavator without having to blast them away.

The digging has been going on for years, a result of weak supervision from the local land and resources bureau, said villagers.
 
There is an application process that companies are supposed to go through before they can start mining, while miners must receive a permit license after registering with the county or city-level mineral resources department, according to the Zhejiang Mineral Resources Management Regulations.

The local government and villagers used to patrol the area to protect the land, but those efforts weren't enough to stop the illegal digging.

"As for the mountain where Zhang's parents were buried, it's an illegal mining area. The police have gotten involved," said Yu Yulong, an official with the Zhuji Land and Resources Bureau. Yu supervises land resources for the village and told residents the police are involved.

According to the Zhuji Public Security Bureau, a local digger named Lou Jiandong and another excavator destroyed the tombs of Zhang's parents in July. As a result of their actions, they only received administrative detention.

The local land and resources bureau later said Lou earned an illegal income of 486,200 yuan ($75,167) from the mountains and it handed the case to the Public Security Bureau, Lou ran away when he was released from detention.

However, police later found Lou's boss, Guo Canwei, head of a city engineering company.

"We had reported this to Guo many times, but the police never took it seriously since he's a relative of Meng Faming, chairman of the Zhuji Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference," said Zhang to the Global Times.

Zhang's niece Zhao Rong'er and her relatives reported the case at a local police station and the 21-year-old girl was charged and detained for disorderly conduct. "I just knocked over my water bottle on the police officer's table and some water spilled out, so they threw me in jail," Zhao told the Global Times. "My aunt tried to stop them, and they arrested her too." Zhao was detained for seven days.

The five mountains that were destroyed had various types of trees growing all over them, and were collectively owned by more than 900 Zhangle villagers. But the village committee admitted they could do nothing to protect the land since it had been requisitioned by the local government.

Under the table

In 2004, the Zhuji Land and Resources Bureau signed a requisition contract with the Zhangle village, claiming 133 hectares, including 106 hectares of farmland and a 26-hectare hill area, at 345,000 yuan per hectare.

Among the 106 hectares of requisitioned land, nearly 66 hectares were protected farmland. According to China's Land Administration Law, any requisition of farmland over 35 hectares, or other land above 70 hectares, needs direct approval from the State Council.

Furthermore, the requisition was only signed by two village leaders, while nobody else was notified. The 900 villagers never heard about the deal, and it never got approval from the village committee.

"This is an illegal requisition, not to mention so much basic farmland is involved," said Wang Zhenyu, a lawyer at the Beijing Impact Law Firm.

The village head and the party secretary were the only ones who signed the requisition contract. Beginning in 2005, villagers began to receive compensation of 35,700 yuan per person, and they will get 150 yuan subsidy every month in the future.

Still, 20 million yuan in owed compensation was not paid to the farmers, while the local government keeps paying interest on it.

The local government explained the land requisition contract was only a letter of intent, which means they will get the approval of the land requisition as soon as new projects have been confirmed. According to the government information published, only four hectares of the land in 2009 and seven hectares in 2010 were approved.

However, when the land was sold to other companies, the land transferring fee reached as high as 5,250,000 yuan per hectare in 2011, 15 times higher than it was taken from the farmers.

Right now, only one factory is under construction, and the remaining land has been abandoned and has weeds growing all over it.

"What are we supposed to live on in the future without the farmland? The 150 yuan monthly subsidy is far from enough," Zhang said.

There is not a specific law that addresses the pre-requisition land issue, but many local governments have experienced similar situations in order for others to lessen the time needed for approval and to improve the speed of construction, said Wang Shouzhi, director of the Department of Policies and Regulations under the Ministry of Land and Resources in an interview with the Beijing-based Caixin Century. He urged that they need to tighten supervision over this issue.

"After my parents' tombs were dug up, both of my sisters and me had dreams that our father came crying to us saying that he felt too cold outside. As for the illegal mining and land requisitions, we just hope the government gives us an explanation," Zhang Weihua said.

Chen Hang, the director of the Zhuji Land and Resources Bureau, refused to comment for this story and the Zhuji People's Procuratorate also failed to step in and investigate as Lou is still at large.

"I don't believe the police cannot catch a criminal, they just want to prolong the case," said Zhao Rong'er.