• Rebellious Chinese village's experiment with democracy sours

    Staff / Reuters

    Villagers gather outside the Wukan Communist Party offices to protest about land disputes in Wukan village in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong Friday.

    By Reuters

    WUKAN, China -- One of China's most celebrated experiments in grassroots democracy showed signs of faltering on Friday, as frustrations with elected officials in the southern fishing village of Wukan triggered a small and angry protest.

    On the first anniversary of an uprising that gave birth to the experiment, more than 100 villagers rallied outside Wukan's Communist Party offices to express anger at what they saw as slow progress by the village's democratically elected governing committee to resolve local land disputes.

    "We still haven't got our land back," shouted Liu Hancai, a retired 62-year-old party member, one of many villagers fighting to win back land that was seized by Wukan's previous administration and illegally sold for development.

    PhotoBlog: Chinese villagers defy government in standoff over land rights

    The small crowd, many on motorbikes, was kept under tight surveillance by plain-clothed officials fearful of any broader unrest breaking out. Police cars were patrolling the streets.

    "There would be more people here, but many people are afraid of trouble and won't come out," Liu told Reuters.

    A year ago, Wukan became a beacon of rights activism after the land seizures sparked unrest and led to the sacking of local party officials. That in turn led to village-wide elections for a more representative committee to help resolve the rows.

    The Chinese village of Wukan in China's southern Guangdong Province had enough of local government corruption and threw out local party officials earlier this year. Now they are in a tense standoff with security forces who have formed a cordon around the town, cutting it off from the outside world.

    Growing pains?
    Friday's demonstration was far less heated than the protests that earned Wukan headlines around the world last year. But the small rally reveals how early optimism has soured for some.

    Nevertheless, Wukan's elderly village chief and former protest leader, Lin Zuluan, who was voted into office on a landslide, stressed these grievances were natural teething problems with any fledgling democracy.

    Democracy declined worldwide in 2011, watchdog says

    He stressed his administration had made concrete strides including wresting back 625 acres and implementing clean, legal and open administrative practices including full disclosure of village finances and open tenders for projects.

    "At this starting point for Wukan there will definitely exist some problems but it doesn't mean there hasn't been democracy or that we have made major mistakes," he said.


    In March, expectations were high in this village, built near a sheltered harbor fringed by mountains, after Lin and his fellow elected leaders pledged to swiftly resolve the land issue.

    Villagers defiant as government creates new narrative

    Lin said complex land contracts and bureaucratic red-tape were hindering their work, with nearly 700 disputed hectares still unaccounted for.

    Some critics say the village committee, which includes several young leaders of last year's protests, lacked administrative experience, failed to engage the public and allowed itself to be out-maneuvered by higher party authorities.

    Shady deals
    "They were people's heroes," said Chen Jinchao, a villager still trying to get back about 1.6 acres of farmland.

    "But now we see them differently. We don't have any new hope. What's the point of electing them if they can't solve the (land) problem?" he added.

    Some say recent discord has been partly sown by allies of the former disgraced village leader, Xue Chang, while higher officials in the Shanwei county seat of government remain tangled in shady deals involving hundreds of acres of Wukan land in a new economic development zone.

    "If Shanwei's corrupt officials aren't cleaned out completely, it is very difficult for us to move forward," said Zhang Jiancheng, one of the young activists elected onto the village committee.

    "Of every 100 things, we may do 50 of them. But people only complain about the 50 things we don't do ... The village committee has been trying to get the land back piece by piece. It's been a very painful process but we must follow legal procedures."

    Journalist beatings erase Wukan optimism

    With China about to choose new leaders, any further unrest at Wukan could impact Guangdong province's high-flying leader, Wang Yang, hailed as a reformer by some for defusing the Wukan standoff by acceding to key village demands and averting a potentially bloody crackdown.

    Read more news from China on NBC's Behind The Wall

    Some villagers have spoken of marching again and putting real pressure on county and provincial authorities.

    "In the end, if they really force us to the very limits, it will be like a volcano exploding," said a senior villager who asked not to be named. "You can't control it."

    More world stories from NBC News:

    Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Inside London's Olympic Village: World's top athletes to share college dorm-style rooms

    Olivia Harris / Reuters

    London's Olympic Village will accommodate up to 16,000 athletes and officials from more than 200 nations.

    By Alastair Jamieson, msnbc.com

    LONDON -- What will it be like for athletes like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt as they eat, sleep and relax at London's $1.5-billion Olympic Village? Think somewhere between a college dorm and freshly-painted motel.

    In the first of a series of "Olympic sleepovers" designed to road-test the facilities, msnbc.com was invited to spend the night in the vast complex.

    The verdict? Apartments are light and airy but far from luxurious: Only some have en-suite bathrooms, even fewer have balconies and there are no kitchens as all cooking will be done in a 24-hour cafeteria that seats 5,000.

    In shared sleeping spaces, beds are close together and most furniture is of the functional, self-assembly variety. (Spare a thought for workers who had to put together more than 9,000 cabinets and wardrobes.) Mattresses were chosen by a committee of athletes but are built for function rather than indulgence.

    Alastair Jamieson for msnbc.com

    Msnbc.com's bed in the Olympic Village. Which of the world's top athletes will occupy it next?

    The pristine white walls and blackout curtains are livened by beanbags and chairs in the now-familiar bright neon colors of the London 2012 logo, and there are televisions with 28 channels including live feeds of all the Olympic events. Duvet covers bear the words "excellence, friendship and respect."

    'Temptation'
    All of the beds are single and walls are thin -- which may disappoint those hoping to burn off calories with the help of fellow competitors.

    There's not much opportunity for mischief in the village's bar, either. Named after Shakespeare's Globe Theater, it offers 10 pool tables, a private cinema and a computer gaming area – but no alcohol. "Not all the competitors are of legal drinking age and, besides, you don’t want to put temptation in peoples' way," one official told msnbc.com.

    More Olympic coverage: London hosts the Games

    Up to 16,000 athletes and officials from more than 200 nations will take up residence later this month in the high-security compound. The vast complex includes more than 2.7 million square feet of living space and is adjacent to the Olympic Park in east London.

    Inevitable teething troubles are being worked out, including a water system failure that left many without showers on Saturday.

    Sleeping accommodation is spread across 11 residential blocks separated by orderly, tree-lined courtyards. Most athletes will share rooms in the apartments, which vary in size from one to five bedrooms. There's also a 13,000 square foot gym, a medical center and a dry cleaners.

    But the most important facility is the cafeteria, which is housed in a temporary structure big enough to park 80 double-decker buses.

    Alastair Jamieson for msnbc.com

    Visitors play pool in The Globe - the "dry" bar in the Olympic Village.

    Food is among the biggest concerns for organizers, who will need to serve as many as 60,000 meals a day. And these are no ordinary meals: Phelps alone consumes 12,000 calories a day. At the 2008 Beijing games he started each day with three fried egg sandwiches, a five-egg omelet, three slices of French toast with powdered sugar, three chocolate chip pancakes and two cups of coffee.

    25,000 loaves of bread
    By the end of the London Games, athletes will have tucked away an estimated total of 90 tons of seafood, 25,000 loaves of bread and 360 tons of fruit.

    Serving stations are sorted by culinary tradition with Indian, Asian, Mediterranean and Afro-Caribbean dishes served at different counters along with a "Best of British" area with local favorites such as sausages, brown sauce and English mustard.

    And yes, there's a McDonald's.

    Sponsorship deals mean the only branded drinks available to athletes are those made by Coca-Cola, including Powerade and Abbey Well Water.


    Halal and kosher meals are available - the kitchens expect a rush of demand at dusk after Ramadan begins on July 20 – and there’s a multi-faith prayer center manned by a team of 50 spiritual leaders from different religions.

    Will it be enough to satisfy the most demanding competitors? Well, the food is tasty and nutritious.

    "We've all lived in villages and had good experiences and bad experiences," British triple jump gold medalist and organizers' committee member Jonathan Edwards told Reuters. "It's a good night's sleep, the food that you want to eat, when you want to eat it and also the transport system." 

    But one aspect that appears to be ready is security. Uppermost in the minds of planners might be the Munich massacre – the killing of 11 Israeli competitors and coaches at the 1972 Olympics by terrorists who climbed over fences into the athletes' compound.

    Despite being adjacent the main Olympic Park, the village is separated by metal fences topped with razor wire and a raft of additional airport-style security checks that include thorough searches of the interior of all vehicles. Some 1,500 security workers will guard the complex around the clock. Similar levels of security protect the woodchip-fueled power plant that supplies the entire Games site.

    Alastair Jamieson for msnbc.com

    Aiming for bronze: Msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson wakes up sleepy after a night in the Olympic Village.

    Although intense planning has gone into how the village will operate during the games, not all of it is purpose-built for the Olympics: After the closing ceremony, the accommodation blocks will be retrospectively fitted with kitchens and converted into 2,818 new homes, 1,379 of which will be government-subsidized for individuals or families who could not otherwise afford to live there. 

    'Not a five-star resort'
    The Financial Times reported that the cost of the Village was initially met from the $15 billion public budget after planned private funding dried up in the credit crunch of 2009. However, about two-thirds of the cost was recouped when the housing was pre-sold to private buyers and government-sponsored housing associations.

    It isn’t yet clear if the Olympic site will necessarily be a sought-after place to live once the Games are gone. One architecture writer described the accommodation blocks as "a tad forbidding, not indeed very villagey at all," and compared them to the "much-criticized estates of the 1960s."

    However, former competitor Edwards remains optimistic about the site, and the village experience. "There's a feel of camaraderie, support," he told The Independent. "It's a great place to be. I know what it's like to turn up at an Olympics with all those hopes and fears. You have to have the platform right. It's not a five-star resort but for an Olympic Village this is outstanding."

    More London 2012 coverage:

     

     

  • For Sale: Deserted French village, pool included

    Sarah DiLorenzo / AP

    The village of Saint Nicolas Courbefy, in Limousin, France, on Feb. 28, 2012. The entire hamlet was put up for sale with an asking price of just $400,000, the cost of a studio apartment in Paris.

    Sarah DiLorenzo / AP

    The village swimming pool could perhaps do with a spring clean.

    The Associated Press reports from Courbefy, France — The village of Courbefy has rustic buildings with fireplaces and exposed beams, a horse stable, a tennis court and a swimming pool.

    Sound nice? It's for sale.

    The saga of the abandoned hamlet is a story of flight from rural France, bad economic times and real estate schemes gone awry. It's turned the mayor of the village next door into a minor celebrity whose office fields inquiries from places as far flung as Qatar and China.

    The village in Limousin, about 280 miles southwest of Paris, was put on the block last week because its latest owners, who had run it as a luxury hotel and restaurant, had long stopped paying their mortgage.

    The entire hamlet — with more than a dozen buildings — carried an asking price of just €300,000 ($400,000) — about the cost of a studio apartment in Paris.

    Take an aerial tour of the village or continue reading the tale of its rise and fall.