The Dapu incident was an

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

case in the village of Dapu (大埔),

Zhunan, Miaoli Zhunan Township is an urban township in northern Miaoli County, Taiwan. Its city centre forms a continuous urban area with Toufen. Name Literally, ''Zhúnán'' () means "bamboo south" but in this context, ''zhú'' is short for "Hsinchu". Th ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

(ROC).

Historical background

The power of eminent domain has been routinely abused in Taiwan for the sake of

land speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.) Many s ...

. The Miaoli county government has designated an area in Dapu Village for the construction of an

industrial complex The industrial complex is a socioeconomic concept wherein businesses become entwined in social or political systems or institutions, creating or bolstering a profit economy from these systems. Such a complex is said to pursue its own financial ...

, which requires the

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of 156-hectares of land belonging to local residents. However, only 28 hectares of the expropriated lands are for industrial use, and most of the remaining area is for residential use.

Incident

On 9 June 2010,

excavator Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression fro ...

s bulldozed and destroyed the Dapu villagers' crop two weeks before

harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...

in a dawn raid.

Aftermath

Dapu incident urges the Taiwan authorities to revise its Land Expropriation Act in Taiwan now goes against the basic rights of people's livelihood. The initiation of land expropriation must be predicated on the

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

. On 18 September 2013, a shoe was thrown at

Liu Cheng-hung Liu Cheng-hung (; born 12 November 1947) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Magistrate of Miaoli County from 20 December 2005 until 25 December 2014. Controversies Shoe throwing incident On 18 September 2013, a shoe was thrown at him by s ...

, Magistrate of Miaoli County, Taiwan, when he attempted to offer his condolences to the family of a man found dead in a water channel under a bridge at Dapu, Zhunan, Miaoli County. Supporters and relatives of the drowned man blamed Liu responsible for the man's death because the man's pharmacy was one of several structures destroyed by the Miaoli government earlier that July to make way for the construction of a new campus at the

Hsinchu Science Park The Hsinchu Science Park (HSP; ) is an industrial park established by the government of Taiwan on 15 December 1980. It straddles Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County in Taiwan. History The idea of the establishment of the Hsinchu Science Park was ...

Notes and references

{{coord, 24.70970, 120.89775, display=title, type:landmark 2010 in Taiwan Eminent domain

Historical background

Incident

Aftermath

See also

Notes and references