Xu will also automatically be registered for a pension when his land is taken, meaninghe will receive about 400 yuan every month after he turns 60.
Yet he still feels insecure about the future.
“Compensation of 1.5 million yuan probably sounds like an enormous figure fornow but think about what that money means in 10 years,” he said, adding that he fearsthe money will devalue as inflation continues. “Think about the expensive education andmedical services.”
His concern is typical among farmers who have lost their land in the rapid progress ofurbanization in the nation, according to Wang Kaiyu, a researcher at the Anhui Academyof Social Sciences.
Without proper education and training, farmers find it difficult to find stable jobs incities and they have no land to fall back on, he said.
Liu Shilin, the village Party secretary, also feels anxious about life after relocation.
“I thought the compensation would be good for our village, but when I saw some ofthem spending heavily on cars, properties and luxuries, I realized that sudden wealth maynot be a good thing,” he said.
He insisted that Hongxing officials have repeatedly warned residents to be carefulabout their consumption. “We have to be prepared for the bad days,” said Liu. “Peopleaged between 40 to 60 worry me most.”
The village government now plans to rent about 1,000 mu of farmland in nearbyHongqi village until 2027 so that experienced farmers can continue with their greenhousevegetable planting.
“Vegetables from Hongxing have already become a famous brand in Harbin,” saidLiu proudly. “The villagers have abundant skills and experience, and they want to findsomething to do instead of being idle.”
Sharing the benefits
In recent years, land acquisition and relocation projects have become one of the mostcontroversial issues in China, with forced demolition in some places arousing violentprotests, including even self-immolation by so-called “nailhouse tenants”.
But the wind of change is blowing and major cities are now exploring what expertscall “the new path of urbanization”, which sees authorities make interest concessions toallow farmers to get a larger share of the profits from land sales.
Hongxing village is not the only one that has benefited from this “new path”.
Located in the northeast part of Beijing, Dawangjing village is home to anotherlegend of overnight wealth.
After a real estate company purchased a plot of land near the village for 27,500 yuanper square meter in March - the most expensive piece of property in the capital - landprices in nearby areas have soared.
As a result, the relocation project has brought Dawangjing’s residents millions incompensation.
Besides purchasing cars, some villagers reinvested the money in property or played thestock markets, hoping to generate more returns, Beijing News reported.
Allowing farmers to enjoy more benefits from rapid urbanization is a good startingpoint for social inclusion, which boosts social and economic development in the long run,according to Liu Shouying, a researcher with the State Council Development ResearchCenter’s rural economy institute.
The previous model - in which the government received the lion’s share from landsales - has pushed farmers to the brink of survival, he said.
Land sales in China totaled 1.59 trillion yuan in 2009, up more than 63 percentover 2008, showed a report by the China Index Academy, which added that several cities,including Beijing, depend on such deals for almost 50 percent of their fiscal income.
“Without a stable job, farmers’ incomes dropped significantly, as well as their qualityof life. This contributed to the increase of large-scale incidents in some cities,” saidresearcher Liu Shouying. “This path of urbanization is simply unsustainable.”
A better way would be to reserve land for farmers to develop suitable industries, hesuggested.
When city governments make plans for industrial development, they have to includethe farmers who sacrificed their land for those projects, so as to ensure the country’s rapidurbanization progress will benefit all, he added.
The pace of urbanization has accelerated in China in recent years, with the rate risingfrom 27 percent in the early 1990s to 47 percent in 2009, according to a report fromNational Bureau of Statistics.
However, analysts agree that the trend is not going to stop - especially while thecountry’s urbanization rate is still below the world average (about 50 percent) and farbehind that of developed countries (85 percent).
Li Anna contributed to this story.
Farmers feel a sense of loss
By LI JING
HARBIN - Solastalgia is a term coined by the Australian philosopher GlennAlbrecht in 2003 to the emotional distress caused by environmental change tothose directly connected to it.
It is a condition experienced by the many Chinese urbanites who lamentthe transformation in the landscapes of their hometowns, with old architecturemaking way for glitzy new towers.
However, farmers say they too now share this sense of loss after watching thecountry’s urbanization process eat up their farmland. Even large compensationpackages have not healed the wounds in some cases.
Liu Jinshan, who has traded 8 mu (0.5 hectares) of land in Harbin,Heilongjiang province, for 2.4 million yuan (350,000), is not as happy, especiallywhen he sees his once fertile land now covered with weeds.
His land is among a vast area acquired by the city government to construct anew railway station.
“My land was taken by the government about two years ago but they stillhaven’t started any construction,” said the 67-year-old. “You’d know my feeling ifyou had worked as a farmer your whole life.”
About five minutes’ walk from Liu’s village is a cluster of vegetable greenhouses.
The plastic sheds have already worn out, while inside mushroom bags are scatteredon the ground.
