Paper abstract:

In early 2000, following the Chinese state’s “returning the pastures to the grassland” policy, thousands of Kazakh households in the Tianshan region were coaxed to give up animal husbandry life and receive compensation according to the state’s grassland conservation reward system. Through an analysis of Chinese sources on ecological migration, herder’s resettlement programs, tourism development, and oral histories of Kazakh land petitioners from Ulanbay Banfangou village in Tianshan, this paper delineates the process of land dispossession facilitated by multiple parties and entities: village party officials, venture capitalists, agricultural and forestry bureaus, and law enforcement departments. Furthermore, counterterrorism campaigns also provided grounds for authorities to detain land petitioners and activists. I argue that the coercive resettlement program constitutes legal land theft and it had little or nothing to do with grassland conservation. This process deprived Kazakhs of their land and livelihood, subjecting them to economic devastation, police intimidation, and arbitrary detention. Meanwhile, this process also made pastures in the Tianshan region available for tourism companies and other venture capitalists to profit from unhindered economic investments.