Chinese farmer uses improvised cannon to resist eminent domain

Telegraph:

Yang Youde, who lives on the outskirts of the bustling city of Wuhan, in central Hubei province, said he had fended off two eviction attempts with his improvised weapon, which uses ammunition made from locally sold fireworks.

"I shot only over their heads to frighten them," he told the China Daily of his attacks on demolition workers sent to move him off his land. "I didn't want to cause any injuries."

The rockets, which can travel over 100 yards, exploded with a deafening bang, the official paper added. It did not say if anyone had been injured.

His approach is more aggressive than most, but Mr Yang's problem is a common one.

Anger over property confiscation is one of the leading causes of unrest in China, with many people forced to give up homes and land to make way for anything from roads to luxury villas.

Mr Yang said the local government had offered him 130,000 yuan (£13,000) for his fields, on which they want to erect "department buildings". He said the land is worth five times that amount.

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He may want to sell his weapon idea to the military. Wheel barrow mobile cannon has real potential. China has a real problem with eminent domain. Some of the resistance has been more violent than this guy and has involved hundreds of people. They clearly need to look at offering a fairer price in these situations, but that would be sort of capitalistic.