Opportunity to till land with dignity(3)

Village voices

Election has been introduced to rural China for 25 years. But the political atmosphere might need a thorough makeover in the next 10 years as vested groups have put down deep roots and hinder the development of grass-roots democracy.

"Shaking up the vested interests group in the village is so hard now. They raise their own gangs of thugs and threaten villagers whenever they felt their interests are compromised," said Pan, who led fellow villagers to fight against constructing a local garbage incineration factory they suspected of polluting the environment.

And the elections in Pan's village was also sabotaged by local gangsters who tore down ballots and election boxes in November as the election for village chief restarted after being delayed for a year.

Cases like this are now being commonly exposed on online platforms such as Weibo as farmers increase the awareness of their rights and begin to act through petitions or the courts to seek justice and the redress of wrongs.

Wukan, Guangdong Province is the most famous case of battling the local government, but in the future, villagers may not fear to speak on their own behalf.

The 18th Party congress also reiterated to ensure that people can use their rights through the People's Congress.

The number of deputies from the grass-roots level will be increased, especially farmers.

As well as political rights, farmers will experience more equal rights with city residents, especially on education and social welfare.

"Without good education, they cannot climb to a higher class and without social welfare, their anxieties can't be quieted," said Liu Kaiming, the head of the Institute of Contemporary Observation, a Shenzhen-based civil society organization, adding that migrant workers' worries could lead to large-scale social unrest surrounding the city.

Dang sees the possibility of abolishing the household registration system in the next decade, allowing farmers to move freely and share the same social welfare.

A more educated, wealthier group of farmers may surprise China in 10 years though the time is still not long enough to liberate all the huge population from poverty.