In Villages, Balloting Too Often Turns Bloody

Miao Dongli died in a horrific brawl outside the offices of the Dibeitou Village Committee seven days before he was supposed to wed and seven days before his bride-to-be, sick with grief, miscarried their child.

Miao was one of the two killed by thugs for supporting a rival of Yuan Haidong, a candidate in an election for village committee chairman in the Hebei Province village.

The violence November 28, 2009, was especially brutal but hardly uncommon. A local police officer told Caixin such brawls occur frequently during annual village elections. And since only about a dozen officers patrol the area, he said, fighting easily gets out of hand.