Liu Shengcai's pomelo orchard was leveled by excavators

Liu Shengcai's pomelo orchard would be ready for harvest in another two months, but now the government, for the sake of an airport at Bali in Taipei and a new town in a special district, has forced the expropriation of his land of more than 2,000 ping; a 40-year-old organically cultivated pomelo tree worth 20,000-30,000 on the market was forcibly expropriated for 5,000 yuan. Liu Shengcai cannot agree with the "good intentions" of the government's new town plan, yet he has no power to resist. He only hopes the government will not underestimate the output value of his pomelo orchard; even if he cannot protect the land left by his ancestors, he will not sell off the family property cheaply!

This morning (2012.06.15), when Liu Shengcai had not yet agreed to the government's expropriation price and had not yet gone to collect any compensation money, the New Taipei City Government actually instructed the engineering contractor to send an excavator into his pomelo orchard. Early in the morning, Liu Shengcai saw the pomelo orchard he had worked on for decades reduced to flat ground in an instant; angry and heartbroken, he ran to seek help from police officers. When the police arrived at the scene, they immediately demanded that the construction crew stop work, but by then nearly half of the pomelo orchard left by his father had already been destroyed, and the decades-old sea hibiscus tree in front of the gate could not escape disaster either. The officer asked the owner whether he would file a complaint; Liu Shengcai said he would decide only after discussing it with his brothers, but he did not know whether to sue the contractor or the city government.

Liu Shengcai also said he had asked Councillor Lu Zichang of the district to propose mediation with the city government, the key point being that the unreasonable expropriation price should be amended by law, because this concerns not only his own family property but also the rights of other expropriated households in the future. Although last year he and a group of landowners had their land deeds taken away by the Land Administration Bureau of the New Taipei City Government through the trick of "hand over the land deed to keep the land," his conviction to protect the family property and safeguard his rights persists to the end!

The following is a short oral account that the author recorded with Liu Shengcai in mid-May:

I have a very large pomelo orchard, with more than 400 pomelo trees planted. Each one was planted by my father from a small seedling, and they are nearly 40 years old. I originally ran a supermarket, and after my father became ill, I began to take over this orchard; I have also cultivated it for more than ten years, and I already have deep feelings for the land. When the government said it wanted to expropriate it, I felt very reluctant. But what can reluctance do? The government is like a licensed gangster, playing word games with ordinary people, underestimating the price of my pomelo orchard, and even calling the compensation money "relief funds," when it clearly robbed me of my land.

Because this plot is sandy soil, what used to be grown here was peanuts, sweet potatoes, and watermelons. Before the incinerator came, the watermelons grown here were large and sweet, and there was no need to rely on pesticides at all. Later, dioxins were detected in the air; the government did not dare say it was because of the incinerator, but acid rain fell, the soil quality worsened, and cultivating pomelos became even harder. Because we insisted on organic cultivation, the pomelos we grew could sell for 200 or 300 per jin, and one pomelo tree could bring in more than 20,000 yuan. In the end, the government gave only 5,000 yuan per tree in compensation, and even said our sandy soil could not grow anything, so the urban plan was a "good intention" for us! Since it is a good intention, this kind of expropriation price should be amended by law, so that people expropriated later will not suffer the same fate.

The government's expropriation pace is really too fast; we simply could not react in time. Officials have their hands around us ordinary people's necks, simply not letting us breathe. Tomorrow is the anniversary of my father's death. He passed away 8 years ago. I can only tell him: it is not that his descendants are unworthy and ruined the family by being lazy and gluttonous, but that his descendants are foolish and cannot hold on to this family estate left by our ancestors.

(Text: Shi Yun; lead image: Shi Yun; image below: Zhang Wenzhong; for news interviews, please contact Liu Shengcai: 0953-553489)

For details, please see: "The Land and Me, a Grand Call for Stories of Land Expropriation Victims Across Taiwan"

Note again on 6.25:
Just now Mr. Liu of the pomelo orchard called. He said they recently mediated with the city government and won a change from the original 400 pomelo trees planted to calculating compensation at the government's maximum rate of 80 trees per fen. His family has 8 fen of land, and the legal planting number should be 640 trees, still 5,000 yuan per tree, so that is 1.2 million more in compensation than before……

The farmland will likewise not be kept, but the pomelos can wait until after this year's harvest before being uprooted, so they are preparing to bag these "last-generation pomelos"……