Hey everyone, I’m Yu Xing (Estelle).
I’m from Fuyang, Anhui, China, and I live in a village with over 20 years of community-building history.
I’m thrilled to be part of NAP3, excited that we will be working towards the same goal from different backgrounds. However, since my English is not very good, I’m worried about communication difficulties during the event. So, I wanted to share our story here in advance—I hope you like it.
Starting with Resistance Against Injustice从反抗不公开始
In the 1990s, before China abolished its agricultural tax, some local officials exploited taxation as a means of personal gain, placing immense pressure on the local people’s survival. People recall those times like this:20 世纪 90 年代,在中国取消农业税之前,一些地方官员将征税作为谋取私利的手段,给当地民众的生存带来了巨大压力。人们对那段时期的回忆是这样的:
*By 1997, township officials were imposing more and more fees on villagers—you had to pay a fee to buy a bicycle, to sell a pig, to farm, to have a child, even when an elderly family member passed away. Each villager had to pay more than 300 yuan per year, but they only had about one mu of farmland per person. A season’s wheat or corn harvest, under good weather conditions, would yield only 300–400 yuan per mu after deducting fertilizer and seed costs. If there were droughts, floods, pests, or diseases, breaking even was already considered fortunate. When villagers couldn’t afford the fees, officials confiscated their pigs and grains, sometimes even resorting to gangsters or law enforcement to forcibly collect payments. This led villagers to start their long and arduous journey of petitioning for their rights.
Starting in 1998, the township government cracked down even harder on petitioning villagers. Many were arrested, fined, or beaten. We began mobilizing households to sign petitions and raise funds together. Our representatives traveled to the capital to petition the central government and wrote letters to various agricultural departments.
Our efforts paid off. Corrupt officials were removed from power, and this movement indirectly contributed to the eventual abolition of China’s agricultural tax. Through this struggle, we realized that by uniting, we could support each other and become stronger. This was the origin of **Nantang Village’s community organization.