Subsequently, Tianjin Municipal Land and Building Administration recommended damage-control measures: the town level Xinzhuang local authorities should reclaim 600mu of illegally leased out land. A deadline was set for the demolition of unlawful buildings that occupy 60.54 mu of land. The Baitangkou village committee was asked to reinstate the farmland to its former quantity and quality prior to all the illicit dealings took place.

The above measures were issued in August.

By mid December, however, Baitangkou remains a large and hectic construction site. The only road leading into the village is traverse by an endless stream of trucks delivering construction materials. Inside the village, paved roads extended into all directions, factories – some completed and some under construction – lined the roads. An army of excavators, bulldozers, trucks, piling machines, pumps and mixers keep roaring through the day.

Amidst all the concrete and mushrooming factories, farmland only sparsely punctuates the landscape.

Soft Enforcement
Lin Yaxi, deputy chief of Tianjin Municipal Land and Building Administration, says the authority first issued a penalty letter to Baitangkou village committee in April 2007 following the central ministries' investigation.

However, the letter-- which was also approved by the ministries-- seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

"The case is basically attended to and completed," says Lü Zhongjiang, director of Urban Planning and Land Resources Bureau of Jinnan District, Tianjin.

When told by EO reporters of the present situation in the village, he replies, "We are not directly responsible for the case. The municipal bureau should handle it instead."

When asked how much farmland is left in Baitangkou, whether or not Xinzhuang local authorities received the penalty letter and why no action has been taken, the response was silence from the bureacrat sitting in the office designated as "Xingzhuang's Vice Mayor: Land and Building". No matter how the EO reporter pressed for an answer, he sat tight lipped in his office and refused to utter a single word.

Lin, from the municipal level, says: "We have our predicament. As an administrative department, we only have the right to issue a written decision of penalty. We are not empowered to enforce the penalty if the parties concerned refuse to accept. What we can do is to apply for a court order for action".

Two months ago, the Administration had applied for an order to enforce the penalty at the People's Court of Jinnan District. The magistrate known as Li told the EO that the case had yet to move beyond the investigation and evidence-collection phase. Asked if and when the illegal constructions would be demolished, he replies, "We don't know for sure yet."