China's mercenary capitalists must be up late watching Sopranos DVDs. USA Today reports:

The increasing use of hired muscle in China "is a sign that society is becoming completely lawless," says Robin Munro, research director of the China Labor Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based group that helps mediate labor disputes. "It's a shocking development in a country that is growing as fast as China." The rise of henchmen-for-hire reflects the peculiar characteristics of a society lurching from communist control to Darwinian capitalism. China's economy is booming, but its justice system hasn't caught up. Judges are untrained, often corrupt and beholden to local communist officials.

Issues of land ownership are often blurry, allowing rapacious local officials to seize communal property — or simply evict farmers — and sell it to developers, pocketing money that belongs in village coffers, says Nicholas Becquelin, research director in Hong Kong for the activist group Human Rights in China, which is based in New York. The land grabs and corruption are feeding unrest in the countryside.

As Lu Banglie can testify.

How long can the national communists and their corrupt local errand-boys really hold on?

TECHNORATI TAGS: CHINA, CORRUPTION, BEATINGS, THUGS

TO COMMENT: The regular "comment" feature is not in operation. E-mail comments to address under "Contact" on main page masthead, and I'll add them, here.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 22, 2005 11:44 AM