Why Are Beijing Residents Protesting Olympic-Related Evictions?

[WarPhalange]

So you're... what? Proposing that every single poor person must be taken care of by the government before production can start on a single upscale retail establishment?

What exactly does one have to do with the other?

I just watched a spot on NBC news showing how the Chines authorities have taken water from a province near Beijing so that they can green up the city for the Olympics, run fountains, etc. The narrator said that the aquifer under the city is dropping at 20 feet/year due to heavy water usage and the booming population. I don't think I'll bother watching any of the Olympic events - the sight of those poor farmers who were denied irrigation water was pretty discouraging. Rice fields turned to dusty hard-pan... I'd love to send them some of mine.

Take your time and read that a few times.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

China has done much worse than this as Turbo mentioned.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8745
Seizure of land, especially from farmers, is a constant problem in China. I read a story on ChinaTheTimes not that long ago about how they had seized land from several farmers to build extremely lavish and palatial homes for the outlandishly wealthy.

For anyone who thinks that China is treated unfairly in the media I suggest you visit The Smoking Man's(ex/banned pf member) forum ChinaTheTimes.com where you can read all sorts of stories about things going on in china that you likely wouldn't normally read about. TSM lives in China and has no bias against it.

Evo I apologize if I oughtn't be telling people about other forums but I think it fits the subject matter and is certainly a good source of news and info on what is going on in China.