Will the Boat Sink the Water?: The Life of China's Peasants by Chen Guidi, Wu Chuntao

Zhang summoned over to his home two members of the township security force. Then he sent word to Zhang Hongchuan, one of the hotheads who had been making accusations against him, to come over so that they could go over the village finances together. Zhang, not suspecting any mischief and conscious that right was on his side, was not at all intimidated by the prospect of facing Deputy Village Chief Zhang Guiquan. He went over cheerfully, expecting to do some checking of the books. But the minute he stepped into the deputy village chief’s house, the two township security flunkies and two of Zhang Guiquan’s own sons sprang on him and pounded him to within an inch of his life. If not for the poor man’s nephew, who was alerted and ran to his uncle’s rescue, it was hard to say what would have been left of Zhang Hongchuan after the attack.
    This show of violence on the part of Zhang Guiquan was meant as a preliminary warning, but instead of intimidating the villagers it only served to mobilize them. Veteran village cadres, Party members, and the eighty-seven households of the village banded together and went twice to the township office and five times to the home of the village Party head, Zhang Dianfeng, to demand an inquiry into Deputy Village Chief Zhang’s outrageous behavior and to conduct an audit of the village books.
    Badgered by these repeated appeals, the Party apparatus of Tangnan Township finally decided that something must be done. Just then it happened that their superiors at Guzhen County directed all the townships to conduct a general audit of
    the village tyrant

    the villages under their own supervision. The township Party head, Zuo Peiyu, announced to some of the peasants from Zhang Village, who happened to be there, presenting another of their petitions, “What luck! The county is launching a general auditing, and we have decided to start with your village! The head of our township’s Party disciplinary committee, Comrade Wang, will lead a work team, including three accountants from the township financial office. They will be heading for your village right away.”
    This news threw Zhang Village into a fever of excitement.

    On February 9, led by Wang and three accountants and reinforced with the addition of Xue, a township officer in charge of supervising Zhang Village, the work team deployed in the village to carry out their mission.
    On the same day, with Wang presiding, the eighty-seven households held earnest consultations and elected twelve representatives from among themselves to join the work team to conduct an auditing of the village books. Among the twelve selected were Zhang Hongchuan, who had already suffered an attack at the hands of Deputy Village Chief Zhang Guiquan, and three others who had always championed peasants’ rights—Zhang Jiayu, Zhang Guiyu, and Zhang Guimao—were among the twelve elected. Knowing Deputy Village Chief Zhang Guiquan through and through for the kind of bully he was, the group did not expect things to go smoothly. They laid out strict rules and guidelines for conducting the auditing. Moreover, as a precau-tion, the twelve representatives made a private pact that in case Deputy Village Chief Zhang Guiquan got tough with any one of them, the rest would rally around whoever it was, to prevent anything untoward from happening.
    As expected, Deputy Village Chief Zhang Guiquan reached into his bag of tricks to throw dust into people’s eyes to
    will the boat sink the water ?

    obstruct the auditing. For instance, he spread rumors that someone had tried to poison one of his sons. When all his tricks failed, he swore publicly during a meeting of the village cadres, “Twelve fucking representatives, actually trying to check on me! They must be dreaming! Even if they do get rid of me, their own lives will be over. If they are lucky enough to come out alive, I’ll make them lose an arm or a leg at the very least!”
    On February 14, the audit group decided to go