Local Chinese officials secretly released floodwaters
And used police force against whoever tried to stop them secretly
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
China has been dealing with a flood problem.
Last month we saw the devastating floods in China’s Henan Province.
Especially in the city of Zhengzhou.
We know how the local government responded.
They slammed foreign journalists who wrote stories about flood victims, accusing them
of criticizing China.
Actually, the central government got in on that too.
And we talked about how the Chinese regime under-reported the casualties in a recent
video.
And just when you thought that was bad, wait until you see how Chinese officials treat
people when they think no one is watching.
On August 2nd, officials in Hebei province dispatched police to break up a large crowd
of angry civilians.
And it was violent.
Police came in with riot gear, while the protesters responded by throwing rocks.
Officials call this “maintaining stability.”
It doesn't look very stable, does it?
This happened in a small township in Longyao County in Hebei province.
Local government officials had secretly dug out a river bank to release flood discharge.
They released the water without warning people downstream—flooding people’s homes and
land.
And after locals found out what the authorities were doing, they came to protest, which led
to this clash.
From the limited information available, it’s not clear why local authorities were trying
to release the floodwater in this town.
It could be that they were trying to relieve flood pressure.
But in the past, what’s happened is that Chinese authorities will release floodwaters
in poorer rural areas to prevent flooding in cities.
But then poor people have to pay the price.
Videos of this protest are hard to find inside China’s heavily censored internet.
Censors don’t want people to get the idea that Chinese officials are the bad guys!
And they especially don’t want videos of people fighting back against the police.
But this video made its way to Twitter, for people living outside of China.
This Twitter user says, “Releasing the floodwater isn’t the problem.
The problem is that the Communist Party does it secretly, and they just don’t want the
people to know.”
“This is deliberately harming the people.
The Communist Party is so against being transparent, that the people naturally lose all trust.”
If people lose trust, that’s a serious problem for the Communist Party.
Fortunately, the Communist Party knows how to build trust.
More police brutality!
In other villages at risk of flooding, government officials may have secretly hired thugs to
destroy flood barriers that villagers built.
During the flooding in Xinxiang County in Henan province, civilians worked together
to build barricades along the Mengjiangnü river.
But apparently that was not ok.
“Yesterday, we tried to build our own flood barriers using sandbags.
Who knew that at 4am, some villagers would sneak out and remove them!”
Fortunately, some of the civilians had kept a night patrol, and caught the culprit in
the act.
This video shows the night patrol interrogating the culprit, who admits that he was hired
to remove any barriers to the floodwaters.
The culprit claims he was hired to take down the barricades, but he wouldn’t say who
hired him.
Was it local authorities?
There’s no way to know for sure.
But the next morning, parts of the riverside were left wide open next to an abandoned excavator.
Well that’s not suspicious at all.
But as we’ve seen, repeatedly, the Chinese Communist Party has no problem sacrificing
the lives of ordinary Chinese citizens when it's for the greater good.
The greater good being total Party control.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from one of you—a fan who supports China
Uncensored by contributing through the crowdfunding website Patreon.
Chris Frampton asks: “Are all the dams, just dams?
Or are they also hydroelectric plants so they are also losing power grid infrastructure?”
Good question, Chris.
There are almost 100,000 dams in China.
But only a few hundred of them produce hydroelectric power.
Most of China’s dams are small.
China has used dams for thousands of years for agriculture and to prevent flooding.
But since the Mao era, there’s been a mentality of altering the natural environment for the
sake of mega projects, without regard for the natural environment.
Not just by building giant hydroelectric projects like the Three Gorges Dam...
But also things like their plan to flatten 700 mountains near Lanzhou.
And their giant canal, called the south-north water project.
It’s all about development—but their projects often end up doing more harm than good.
The floods aren’t going to shut off the power in China.
And even if power generation is down a bit, don’t worry.
They can always burn more coal.
Thanks for your question, Chris.
And a big thank you to everyone who supports China Uncensored on Patreon.
We could not do this show without your direct support—since so many of our episodes get
censored or demonetized.
If you’re interested in supporting us, head over to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored.
You’ll get a bunch of cool perks, including the chance to have me answer your question
on the show!
Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.