Farmers whose lands were expropriated gather at the torn down house of a journalist in Pingdu, Shandong Province, in September 2013, to express support for attempts the journalist made to protect his family's property. Photo: IC

The fire came suddenly on Friday morning, devouring the tent in which Geng Fulin and three other elderly villagers were sleeping, in what villagers and police say looks like arson.

Geng, 62, who died in the fire, was one of a number of villagers in Dujiatuan, Pingdu city, Shandong Province, attempting to prevent the alleged seizure of a piece of land by property developers who were pushed by a village committee seeking to cash in.

On Tuesday evening, Pingdu authorities announced that police had identified seven suspects. Village head Du Qunshan and property developer surnamed Cui allegedly instructed a local resident surnamed Wang to set the fire. Wang is believed to have then hired four arsonists to commit the crime.

Geng was buried by his wife and son on Sunday. At his funeral, villagers held a banner that read "May the spirit of Geng Fulin, the hero who guards our land, live forever."

However, the whereabouts of millions of yuan owed to villagers like Geng still remains a mystery.

The Pingdu government said that they paid every single penny to the village committee. Villagers say they received a tiny fraction of the money, and the village committee is remaining silent.

As developers paid around 1 million yuan ($161,219) for each plot of land but villagers received just 20,000, it seems likely Geng was a casualty in a high-stakes tussle over a mountain of corrupt cash.

Legal seizure?

The Pingdu government said on Sunday that the requisition was legal and approved by the Shandong provincial government.

Geng's younger brother Geng Fuchun disagrees. He said that most of the villagers didn't know the land was requisitioned until it was cordoned off last year.

Guan Meihua, the wife of Li Delian - who suffered a minor injury in the fire - also said the villagers had no idea the land was sold to the city government by the village committee, according to China National Radio.

Liu Yongjin, the lawyer representing the Dujiatuan villagers, said they had checked the documents presented by Pingdu government agencies and found no proof the legal procedure for land requisition had been followed.

On March 15, the villagers reported their findings to the Pingdu Public Security Bureau but never received feedback. Liu said around 100 households had filed a lawsuit against the Pingdu Land Bureau to the Pingdu People's Court, with the developer as the third party. "The villagers had no knowledge of the deal," Liu told the Beijing Times.

Insufficient compensation?

Villagers say they have received far less than they were entitled to. According to China's Land Administration Law, farmers should receive two payments. The first is based on the crop yield and includes invested assets such as trees or tombs. The second is for the land itself.

Farmers say they have received between roughly 20,000 ($3,226) and 25,000 yuan for the crop yield, which satisfied most. However, the second payment - which according to China's Land Administration Law should be up to 30 times the land's annual production value - has not been received.

According to the Qingdao-based Bandao News, the current annual production value was set in 2005 by the Qingdao government, which governs Pingdu. It was set at 1,500 yuan for each mu, or 0.07 hectares.

Thus, the compensation should be up to 45,000 yuan for one mu of land in Pingdu, which was roughly what each household occupied.

The Pingdu government said it had paid the maximum compensation in May 2013 to the village committee, with 3.4 million yuan for crop yields and 6.04 million for the land.

Du Yongping, brother of one of the injured villagers, said it was unfair that the developers paid over 1 million yuan for one mu of land to the government, but the villagers only received 20,000 for the same area of land.

Zhu Xiaoding, a Beijing-based lawyer, has spoken with the villagers. He said that the best scenario for them would be to receive 80,000 yuan, but that is far from enough.

A bigger concern, Zhu said, is that the farmers might lose their livelihoods. Without any other skills than planting crops, farmers cannot get good jobs and survive in the cities.

Silence over cash grab

The Pingdu government said more than 15 million yuan was also given to the Dujiatuan village committee to help with economic development and to ensure villagers benefit from urbanization.

The money, which the government says was paid on February 27, was part of the income gained by selling the land to developers.

The Pingdu government claimed it has paid all the money to the Dujiatuan village committee - the 15 million yuan for future economic support, the 3.4 million yuan for crop yields and the 6.04 million yuan for the value of the land - but the villagers claim they have received nothing but the crop yield compensation.

So somewhere the 6.04 million yuan set aside for the value of the land went missing - with the village committee sitting right in the middle.

Geng Fuchun said that his older brother's family received just under 20,000 yuan for their crops, but received nothing for the land. As for Geng Fuchun himself, his own family received no compensation at all.

"That is why we guarded the land - to stop the developer from entering," said Geng.

Jiang Shengjun, the village Party chief, has declined interview requests from the Global Times since Friday.

When asked about the land requisition procedure, village officials said they had no idea. Villagers also say they had no say in decision making when it came to village matters. "We never had a villagers meeting in three years. The officials decide how to deal with the money themselves," Geng Fuchun said.

He added that it's possible the city government had paid the land compensation but village officials kept it. But he dares not ask about it.

"If you are lucky, the official will tell you he does not know where the money is. If you encounter a mean person, he will probably beat you for asking," Geng Fuchun said.

Villager Ai Zhonghua (pseudonym), said he had reported the illegal requisition and the arson case to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the Legal Mirror reported.

As yet, there has been no comment on whether the village committee is under investigation for corruption.