Inside China Today

Inside China Today – Sunday 18th October

- Sky – high taxi prices;

- Local authorities in Hubei extort farmland.

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Sky-high taxi prices

In Harbin City, Taxis cars are being sold at sky-high prices. One taxi can be sold for as high as 400,000 Chinese Yuan and on top of this high management fees are charged by the government. The result is extremely high prices for customers. People have disclosed that this is due to corruption involving government officials.

Around October 1, Taxi prices in Harbin increased drastically. Even low quality Taxis were sold for more than 100,000 Yuan and good quality ones for 400,000 Yuan.

The Taxi market in Harbin is unpredictable with sudden changes in car prices. One Taxi car contractor bought a car for 330,000 Yuan, immediately afterward the price in the car market raised to 400,000 Yuan.

Taxi driver Mr. Zhu said, (Recording): “Sometimes the price doesn’t go up for a while. After a car is just sold, the price may suddenly increase by tens of thousands of Yuan the next day. This is very common.”

He said, currently the price is as high as 400,000 Yuan without going through any intermediary agents.
(Recording): “For simple individual buyers, it’s more than 400,000 Yuan. It’s common to cost you about 300,000 Yuan if you buy the car out at one time. Normally it’s sold at more than 400,000 Yuan. If you buy it through agents, you will spend more than 500,000 Yuan.”

Insiders revealed that, it’s very hard for ordinary people to get a car contract directly from a Taxi Company. The only way is through intermediary agents. And many of these agents have affiliations with government officials.

The prices are leading to high Taxi fees which are impacting on consumers.

A citizen, Ms. Zhang said (Recording): “We shouldn’t say the taxi drivers are wrong. It’s the government and those management departments who are doing something unfair. So the taxi fee in Harbin is almost the highest in this Country. Comparing citizens’ income with the Taxi fee, the fee is the highest. Finally isn’t this all transferred to citizens?”

There are approximately 12,000 taxis in Harbin. More than 1000 are privately owned, with the majority owned and operated by Taxi companies.

Consumers are relating situations such as Taxis competing with other Taxis, overcharging passengers, and deliberately making detours, much of which can be attributed to the pressure of the high prices. Many Taxi drivers have put themselves into debt so they can get into the market.

Matthew Ytsma; Shi Ping; and Kai Di of the SOH Radio Network.

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Local authorities in Hubei extort farmland

On October 7th, Tiancheng Township Government extorted farmland from peasants without any official document or agreement, and started construction on the extorted land. The villagers requested the officials to stop the construction. Police came and arrested four villagers. One of the villagers Mr. Chen at Xiajin Village, said:

“No one even measured the land, or provided any signed agreement. People here are unwilling to sell the land. No one has signed any agreement. They started construction here and extorted land from us. We cannot accept it and asked them to stop the construction. As a result, they came to arrest us. Four people were arrested today.”

A few years ago, officials from Tiancheng Township government extorted over 167 acres of land, between Fuxi Bridge and the Second Bridge, using the name “Chongyang Economic Development District.” In December last year, the officials again extorted over 33.3 acres of land and used the name “the Jingwu Duck Farm.” Another official extorted over 16.7 acres of land this year. Mr. Chen said:

“(Last year) nearly 100 policemen came to arrest ten people. Two elderly people were detained for 11 days; the others were detained for five days. The charge was that those people did not allow them to dig a construction site. We went to appeal. The officials at the appeal office asked us to provide a document with an official seal. Where can we get such a document? We can only post the message on the internet, hoping someone will show concern over us peasants.”

After the township government extorted land from the villagers, the county government refused to recognize the appeals made by the victims. Mr. Chen said:

“They do not help to resolve these issues for us. When we went to appeal, they did not accept us. They said our appeal would not be accepted.”

Mr. Chen has lost his land, and he is now relying on a very small piece of land to grow crops and vegetables to make a living. Mr. Chen said:

“Needless to say we are experiencing a lot of hardship. The land cannot be used to grow crops any more, but we do not have any other form of income.”

Mr. Chen also revealed that according to local news reports, underground water has been contaminated, and is not suitable for drinking. They now must buy their drinking water for four or five Yuan a bucket.”

Land is the livelihood of the peasants. The villagers at Tiancheng Township hope to expose their situation by reporting to higher levels or by posting the crimes on the internet. They hope someone will offer a helping hand and uphold justice for them.

Donna Ware; Wen Fang; and Lou Lan of SOH Radio Network.

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