Uniformed reserve soldiers were deployed by wealthy developer in Zhejiang Province to evict villagers from their homes so that a market could be built upon the land. Police and Para-military participation and accusations of brutality in civil commercial disputes are not new in the totalitarian communist county, but using military forces has been rather rare, until recently.
Historically Chinese rulers have been wary on loyalty of military forces. In Ming Dynasty, a wealthy patriot was executed for donating money to a troop, because only the emperor is entitled to giving to the military. During the relief effort of the Sichuan Earthquake in 2007, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao lashed out before reporters for his frustration dealing with troops. Although he is the head of the government and namingly No. 3 in the Party rank, the troop only answers to Mr. Hu Jintao, the Party Core and Chairman of the CCP Central Military Committee (CMC).
April 10, 2009, hundreds of reserved forces of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) were deployed to evict villagers to make room for a market to be developed by a real estate developer Mr. Shen Jinmu. A short video clip of the scene showed villager was beaten by uniformed soldiers. At least one senior citizen was seriously injured with multiple broken bones. Billionaire Shen hired the troop through the local government of Tongxiang, Zhejiang.
