“The crux of the issue is that governments at all levels plunder the land resources, the commoners see little if any of the money and violators get off scot-free,” said Hou Guoyan, a retired professor from the China University of Political Science and Law.

Beijing has also issued a series of regulations aimed at increasing scrutiny, but experts say the central government does not have enough power to enforce the law in the provinces.

“The (central) government is at a loss to solve the problem,” Hou said.

This is the “social instability” Beijing fears.

Enforcing ‘State Policy’

The central government is also having a great deal of trouble enforcing many other of its own communist state policies.

Earlier this year, in Bobai county in the region of Guangxi, thousands of villagers rioted, burning cars and clashing with police, after being fined for breaching the one-child policy.

China allows couples to only bring into the world one child. Villagers in Bobai were violating this rule. When police cracked down to enforce the law, violence erupted.

Central Beijing was caught off guard and proved itself completely incapable of an appropriate response.

Other incidents of people in the countryside ignoring Beijing are common.

Local governments in China are continuing to invest in dirty, resource-intense industries, jeopardizing Beijing’s goals of saving energy and cutting pollution.

 Some regions are encouraging steel, cement and other heavy industries to boost economic growth despite demands from Beijing to rein in those sectors, the China Daily newspaper reported.

When it first became apparent that local governments were ignoring Beijing on pollution issues, Beijing threatened local communist leaders. Their promotions were tied to environments goals.

But this scheme was an utter failure. Fearing a total revolt of local communist officials, Beijing rescinded the edict on July 21, 2007.

Summer Olympics 2008

China is already preparing to “manage and control” crowds, assembly and protests at next summer’s Beijing Olympics. The gathering of information on foreigners who might mount protests and spoil the nation’s moment in the spotlight has already commenced. The central Beijing government is already preparing lists of potentially troublesome foreign organizations, looking beyond the human rights groups long critical of Beijing.

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