China Admits Widespread Rural Unrest
(Reuters | Beijing | July 1, 1993)
Angry peasants unable to cash postal money orders sent by relatives in cities have attacked post offices and injured employees in unrest affecting 11 provinces, the China Daily said Thursday.
It said the central bank had authorized rural post offices in problem areas to draw cash directly from local branches of the bank to speed up the cashing process. News of the disturbances follows reports of recent unrest in the countryside triggered by arbitrary taxes and fees levied on farmers.
China's leaders realize they have to do something quickly. "The move comes as more farmers have complained about the slow cashing of the (remittances). Some have smashed postal office windows and doors, even injuring some postal workers," the newspaper said.
Trouble started when rural post offices failed to honor so-called "green IOUs," postal remittance orders sent home by relatives who have gone to cities to seek work.
The unrest hit Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shaanxi, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces — virtually all of China's breadbasket regions.
By the end of March, rural post offices had turned away farmers holding $512,190 worth of money orders. The offices were able to honor only $1.25 million of the remittances, the newspaper said.
The remittances are one of the only major sources of cash income flowing into rural areas. Late last year, peasants were furious when the government gave them so-called "white IOUs" or promissory notes, instead of cash for their mandated quota of crops.
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