Länk - Kina försöker lugna befolkningen på landsbygden

Another significant obstacle is that the central government in Beijing relies to a large extent on local governments to implement its policies. In many instances, however, local governments are the perpetrators of--or at least complicit in--the abuses suffered by the rural population. This is particularly true with respect to the unfair expropriation of farmers' land for urban and industrial development. Cash-starved local governments have a strong incentive to seize farmers' land, reclassify it as urban, and lease it to developers at a massive profit. Profits from land-conveyance fees paid by developers and investors for long-term rights to use the land have become an increasingly crucial source of local government revenue, without which, ironically, they could provide even fewer public services.