The Tangshan protest occurred in 2004 after more than 11,000 farmers in Hebei Province, China, signed a petition calling for the removal of Communist Party officials who were allegedly involved in corruption.
Between 1992 and 1997, 23,000 Chinese farmers were resettled in Tangshan City, Hebei, to make way for the Taolinkou reservoir, some 100 km (62 mi) to the east of Beijing.
In February 2004, a group of ten farmer representatives traveled to the capital to submit their petition to the National People's Congress.
[2] In his opening speech to the Congress, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao promised a crackdown on corruption and illegal land seizures.
[6] Yu Meisun, who had already served an earlier jail sentence, was able to publish an online diary that gave details of police harassment.