Desperate Chinese villagers launch ‘citizen government’

When the villagers of Jitan, a small township in China’s central Henan province, were facing a threat to their lands from a powerful developer, they turned to Beijing for help. When their petitions fell on deaf ears, the villagers decided to take matters into their own hands: three farmers, out of desperation, quietly set up their own “government office”, and using copies of official seals, began issuing “orders” in the style of government directives, asking local developers to prevent their land acquisitions.

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