“Clash Between Xuanwei, Yunnan Government Personnel/Police and Villagers During Tree Seizure (2026.03.30)”
On March 30, in Keluoyu Village, Moga Village Committee, Baoshan Town, Xuanwei City, Qujing, Yunnan Province, government personnel were surrounded by locals after forcibly cutting down villagers’ pine trees. Subsequently, police clashed with the villagers while attempting to forcibly escort the government personnel away from the scene.
On March 17 at Shaanxi’s Xi’an Construction Engineering Group, after a scuffle between unpaid construction workers and company staff, a female worker desperately grabbed onto the legs of two men. One was the project manager, and the other was just someone trying to stop the fight.
On March 13, near the Baihe Xiangzhou residential community in Nanbu County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, a conflict broke out as urban management officers (Chengguan) attempted to drive away street vendors
January 21, at the Lujia Courtyard resettlement site in Zhenxiong County, Zhaotong, Yunnan, a conflict broke out after urban management officers forcibly dismantled street stalls, resulting in a female vendor being knocked to the ground and injured.
“Hundreds of Villagers March in Chengmai, Hainan, Clashing with Police (2026.01.13)”
On January 13, hundreds of villagers from Shanchao Village, Jinjiang Town, Chengmai County, Hainan Province, marched while holding banners to protest a local strongman’s forcible seizure of their land. During the protest, villagers became involved in a fierce clash with police who attempted to block their rights-defense action.
“Hainan and Guangxi Demolish Temples and Ancestral Halls, Triggering Clashes (2025.11.14–17)”
Southern China has recently seen two forced demolition incidents targeting folk-religion sites. In mid-November 2025, local governments in Lingao, Hainan, and Fuchuan, Guangxi, forcibly tore down a folk temple and an ancestral hall. Both demolitions not only destroyed villagers’ places of worship, but also led to physical clashes between villagers and officials.
Hainan Lingao: Villagers throw rice to “ward off evil,” protesting state force
On November 17, clashes broke out in Meilan Village, Bohou Town, Lingao County. That day, local authorities deployed large demolition teams and police to surround a village temple, intending to level it completely. Videos from the scene show villagers—unarmed and outnumbered—forced to remove the statues while facing shield- and baton-bearing police. As drums sounded, villagers grabbed handfuls of rice and hurled it at the demolition squads. During the pushing and shoving, a female villager was violently knocked down, escalating tensions. In Lingao folk custom, throwing rice symbolizes both “expelling evil” and “cursing misfortune.” Villagers used the ritual to express anger, implying that demolishing a temple offends the gods and brings bad luck. This ritual-charged act of resistance underscored their helplessness in the face of overwhelming state power.
Guangxi Fuchuan: Ancestral hall destroyed; Yao villagers rebuild the next day
Just days before the Lingao incident, an ancestral hall in Fuchuan, Hezhou, also faced the same fate. On November 14, the township head of Lianshan personally led police and officials into Jingtou Village to tear down a Yao ancestral hall. For Yao villagers, an ancestral hall is not only a sacred place for rituals but also a symbol binding the entire clan. Women of the village tried to block the demolition with their bodies, but they were outnumbered. The hall was eventually reduced to rubble. Yet the next day, undeterred villagers returned to the ruins and began rebuilding it brick by brick.
Across China, similar scenes are common. Religious and folk-ritual sites are frequently demolished under labels such as “illegal construction,” “land regulation,” or “safety rectification.” From the Cultural Revolution’s “Destroy the Four Olds,” to recent campaigns tearing down church crosses and flattening mosque domes, to today’s removal of rural temples and ancestral halls—the cleansing of folk-belief sites has never truly stopped, only changed its justification. At its core lies an authoritarian system that tolerates no spiritual authority outside the Party. Even a small place honoring ancestors or local deities is treated as a potential challenge to absolute power.
“Guangdong Huaiji Villagers Clash Fiercely with Forced Land Expropriation Team (Nov 12, 2025)”
On Wednesday, November 12, villagers in Tongguang Village, Lengkeng Town, Huaiji County, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, clashed with a land expropriation team over a piece of collectively owned land that had been secretly sold by the village committee. The standoff lasted from day to night, with multiple clashes breaking out during the confrontation.
According to villagers, the land was secretly sold for the construction of a new road, and the payment had already been embezzled. Villagers only discovered the sale when road construction began. What angered and worried them even more was that the road would serve a large pig farm being built nearby. Villagers fear that once the farm begins operation, the wastewater and foul odor it produces will severely pollute the environment, making Tongguang Village uninhabitable.
Out of concern for their living environment and anger over the land seizure, the villagers launched a protest in August to block the project. On October 17, they intercepted several construction vehicles and clashed with personnel who tried to drive them away. Thanks to the villagers’ persistence, the construction has remained suspended since then.
On November 12, the local government once again sent a large number of personnel into the village to forcibly resume construction. Witnesses said that three buses filled with expropriation workers and two ambulances entered Tongguang Village that day. The workers, carrying shields, formed a human wall to prevent villagers from approaching the site.
Villagers set off fireworks to sound the alarm and called for more people to come and help. Clashes soon erupted. The villagers’ protest tents were torn down, and a female villager was injured. In anger, some villagers threw dirt toward the expropriation team. Although most protesters were women and elderly people, they continued confronting the team until late at night, during which more clashes broke out. Later, the local government deployed large numbers of police to the village in an attempt to suppress the protest by force.
Villagers said they were outnumbered and could not stop the construction, but vowed to continue defending their homeland. One villager posted on social media:
“I’ll keep posting updates about our protest. If one day you no longer see our voices online, it probably means we’ve been taken away.”
On October 31, in Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Province, over a thousand villagers launched a “Down with Hainan Rubber Group” protest, surrounding the Jiachai Farm of Hainan Rubber Group, smashing several cars and damaging parts of the farm’s facilities, and clashing violently with police at one point. The villagers’ plight resonated across Hainan, prompting young people from towns across Qiongzhong as well as from Danzhou, Baisha, and Wuzhishan to drive to Jiachai to support the protesting villagers. According to informed sources, on November 1, under mediation by the local government, the villagers received 588,600 yuan in compensation and 100,000 yuan for replanting.
“Violent Clash Between Street Vendors and Urban Management in Shangqiu, Henan Leaves Several Injured (2025.10.27)”
On the evening of October 27, a violent confrontation broke out between street vendors and urban management officers at the Yingtian Street night market in Shangqiu, Henan Province, resulting in multiple injuries.
According to reports, the incident stemmed from the local government’s campaign under the name of “air pollution control,” which led to a 100-day shutdown of Shangqiu’s largest night market.
Vendors said the closure began in September 2025, initially targeting unlicensed vendors who did not pay fees, but was later expanded to include those who had paid for their stalls. After losing their livelihoods for an extended period and struggling to make ends meet, some vendors were forced to resume business on their own.
On the night of the 27th, when urban management officers used force to evict a vendor who had resumed operations, other vendors reacted angrily and collectively resisted, leading to a violent clash.
Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic, with several people injured. One witness said, “At least eight ambulances were dispatched.” The confrontation drew a large crowd of onlookers and continued late into the night.
“Villagers in Leping, Jiangxi Clash with Police After Detaining Deputy Township Head (2025.10.14)”
On the evening of October 14, in Huajia Village, Zhenqiao Town, Leping City, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, a clash broke out between protesting villagers and the police, during which several villagers were beaten.
Huajia Village, located along the Le’an River, has recently been at the center of a dispute after the village committee allegedly sold collectively owned riverside land for the construction of a dock without villagers’ consent. In response, hundreds of villagers launched a rights defense action in late September, gathering day and night on the disputed land to prevent the dock’s construction.
The land in question lies across the Le’an River, forcing villagers to cross by boat each day to continue their protest. In an apparent attempt to stop them, the local government recently shut down the ferry service across the river. On October 14, government enforcers reportedly seized the villagers’ small boats, sparking outrage. Villagers then surrounded and detained a man identified as the “deputy township head.”
That night, a large number of police entered Huajia Village, demanding that villagers release the deputy township head. A confrontation ensued, and according to witnesses, several villagers were beaten during the clash. The standoff ended only after officials promised to return the confiscated fishing boats the following day, allowing the deputy township head to leave.
As of October 16, the villagers of Huajia continue their rights defense action.
