Waste, extravagance, pollution: More than 10,000 Hui Muslims protest new county offices

Qunke Township, Hualong Hui Autonomous County, Qinghai Province:  On Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, all businesses and restaurants in the county went on strike and some 10,000 demonstrators marched to the new government center, calling it wasteful.

The original location of the county town had been in use for 300 years, but starting in March 2009 the Hualong government began acquiring land at low prices for construction in the new area. Netizens revealed during construction that local government sent more than 1,000 police and civil servants to seize land, sometimes violently. Many villagers were arrested.

During the demonstration Wednesday, protesters carried signs saying, “The construction in Qunke New District wantonly abuses tens of thousands of hectares of Yellow River valley land,” “Going-against-the-wind, building in haste office,” and other slogans. Citizens marched from all over the county and converged at county government headquarters.

Tens of thousands of hectares of fertile farmland along the Yellow River have been damaged. Construction garbage flew into the Yellow River, polluting the mother river.

Hualong County administrative center now is 10 kilometers and 1.5 hours by car from its former location, making things even more difficult for those who already had to travel eight hours to the original country town seat for business.

Hualong Hui Autonomous County is between the east loess plateau and Qinghai-Tibet plateau, in the southeast part of Qinghai Province. It is inhabited by 12 ethnic groups including Hui Muslim, Han Chinese, Tibetan and Sala.
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