Village resets Party branch to root out corruption in leadership

GUANGZHOU - A general Party branch was set up on Sunday to revive Wukan village, Guangdong province, which for months has been experiencing protests, some violent, against village authorities accused of corruption.

In September, villagers first converged on Lufeng, the city that administers Wukan, to protest over land sales, financial accounts of the village and the election of village officials.

The standoff between villagers and the local government was not defused until Dec 22, when Zhu Mingguo, deputy Party chief of Guangdong, held a direct dialogue with villagers.