NARRATOR Ran Tong took us to the outskirts of his hometown Chengdu. All around are farmlands being turned into concrete and glass. Scenes repeated around China's main cities.
RAN TONG Look at this. It all used to be farm land. All these areas are newly built.
RAN TONG Soon it will be the best part of town. The pride of Chengdu!
NARRATOR But a closer look shows the story is very different. It's riddled with land disputes - a legacy of the collective ownership established under Communism.
Property developers, conspiring with government officials, grab land cheaply from peasants whose land rights are unclear under the law.
NARRATOR Last year, developers kicked Mrs. Li and her family off their land.
MRS LI Our old house was over there. They promised that after the road was finished, they'd give us land to rebuild our house.
NARRATOR The family had to build themselves a temporary shelter.
WOMAN We're in a very bad situation. I'm very angry. They don't care about our lives. They didn't listen to us at all.
WOMAN They want to sell us an apartment at $23 per square foot.
2ND WOMAN - How can we afford that?
RAN TONG Well, that's what they cost these days!
2ND WOMAN If we don't agree we'll lose our home and our business. That's why I say the property developers and the government are in this together.
OLD MAN The truth is the rich can have it all their own way. The court just does what the government tells it to.
NARRATOR Our camera team was alerted that local thugs were coming to stop the filming.
We left quickly.