China Hits a Turning Point Back to Poverty! Grain Grabs Sweep Nation—Hunger Feared More Than Death

They are acting like a bunch of bandits. This is just a bunch of bandits, right? I'm almost 50, and my hair has gone gray. I've never seen anything like this. The farmer can only sit there in frustration. There's nothing he can do. These older women and men are suddenly full of energy. Their backs don't hurt anymore. Their legs don't hurt anymore. Every fall harvest, farmers across China enter fields run by larger growers to collect leftover crops. Some go further, stealing crops or taking them by force. The scenes are chaotic, and the problem has grown worse this year. Several countries have recently urged people to keep three days to a week's supply of food, drinking water, and hygiene products in case of war or a major natural disaster. The goal is to prevent chaos if supplies suddenly run short. Yet in China, under Chinese Communist Party rule, Prouds have repeatedly seized crops in rural areas in recent years. The practice has become increasingly common. Even though more than 60 years have passed since the Great Famine, and the country describes itself as an economic powerhouse, the reasons behind this trend are drawing attention. 让完玉米又去抢药 After taking the corn, now they are taking medicinal herbs. Oh my god, they've taken all my herbs! These people stick to us like leeches. Wherever the harvester goes, they follow. They just won't leave. It's so frustrating. People are now running right in front of harvesters to grab grain. As the machines move forward, older women rush ahead to snatch up rice stock. We haven't even finished harvesting. These people have no consideration for anyone. They are just grabbing everything. A farmer who leases land to grow corn angrily described what was happening. I'm People who used to collect leftover corn are now taking it by force. starting They push into the fields and follow the harvester. Those of you with elderly parents need to keep an eye on them. You're not missing this little bit of corn. to Don't embarrass your children like this. This isn't collecting leftovers. This is stealing horn. speak It's causing huge problems for our harvest. They crowd around the harvester, now. following it from the front and the back. Several online videos show people carrying baskets rushing into rice fields before the harvest is finished. Some even stand near the harvester's path. A harvester's operator explained in the comments that the video was filmed in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The rice belonged to villagers, and some of the people grabbing it were from the same village. One commenter said collecting grain left behind after a harvest is called cleaning. Rushing in while the machines are still running is gambling with your life. One video shows people reaching right under a harvester to grab crops. They even start arguing over them. You can't grab it like that. A former confronted people who were still collecting corn after dark. I don't know if you guys don't know the dark side of things. I can't hide it from you. It's already dark. The harvester operator can't see you. You're risking your lives for a little money, darting around right in front of the machine. Sir, you're not being responsible. That's your wife, right? Tell her to move aside. She could get hurt. Look, the machine just went past her. I've warned you, it hasn't hit you yet. But if it does, You could be gone, find a better husband in your next life instead of coming out here with him to collect corn. An older woman was caught picking someone else's corn. Porn. We caught someone stealing corn, come here. I live right nearby. We've already lost more than 1,000 years of corn, nearly 2,000, from this field. Come on, put it here, so you live nearby. Put it down, I'm calling the police right now. I only took these few years. I'm calling the police right now. Taking just a few years, it's still stealing. Our corn is worth 200 yuan an year. A harvester operator said angrily. You look at me. I still have this strip left to harvest. The machine comes right up beside him, and he doesn't even look up. It's infuriating. There's no way to do this job. Who would dare keep working like this? The farmer is over there, furious. These people are collecting soybeans. It's maddening. A worker hired to guard a farmer's field said there were too many people stealing crops. A few minutes of effort, and everyone rushed in. Within minutes, everyone rushed in. Some couldn't carry everything away, so they brought motorized tricycles to haul it off. They are shameless. Don't leave farmland around here. Anyone who does will lose money. There are too many thieves. The farmer asked me to guard the field and stop them from taking the crops, but I can't keep them out. They are not even afraid when the harvester comes toward them. Why would they be afraid of going hungry? I have no idea what they are thinking. This video shows people lining up ahead of a sweet potato harvester. Before it even starts, the machine passes right beside them. As soon as it goes by, they rush in to collect the potatoes. There's a lot of people on the road, and they're getting ready to pick up sweet potatoes. The road is packed too. Everyone's waiting to collect sweet potatoes. It's hard for vehicles to get out because people are blocking the roadside. There's nothing we can do. They're digging through them before we've even hauled the potatoes away. Their attitude is, say whatever you want, I'm taking them and you can't stop me. I can't get this potato out because the crate is pressing down on it. They have no manners. Look, they're taking the potatoes straight out of the crates and putting them in bags. Honestly, farming is hard for everyone, but people shouldn't go this far. Wait until the farmers finish and clear everything away. Then collect what's left. An older woman kept picking corn in someone else's field despite being told to stop. She filled a large bag, then fell several times as she tried to leave. You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know what you're talking about. Put it down here. Do you hear me? You are still picking? How dare you keep picking? Put it here. Put it down there. Right there. A vlogger turned the behavior of older people collecting leftover crops into a comedy routine. Farming doesn't pay these days. The older folks who ride around on motorized tricycles collecting other people's crops are the ones making money. You grow less than they collect. They don't own any farmland, but somehow they have the biggest harvest every year. They only take the big ears of corn, never the small ones. No investment, no farming, just a sack and no shame. They don't buy seeds or fertilizer or spray pesticides. But they still get a big harvest every year. They collect several thousand pounds of wheat and several thousand pounds of corn. They dry it on roads in other villages because they are afraid of what people will say if they do it outside their own homes. They sell 18,000 yuan worth a year, about 2,500 US dollars. They have WeChat groups and come out in big crowds. Suddenly their backs don't hurt, and their legs aren't sore. You harvest in front, and they collect behind you. Try to chase them away and they glare at you. They wave sickles and threaten to attack. They use their edge as a shield. You can't hit them or even scold them. If you touch them, they lie down on the ground. The vloggers joked that if things go out of hand, these people would come and steal everything, leaving the whole field empty. Many growers say they are struggling because even after they call the police, officers say there is nothing they can do. That's what I do. The people coming to take potatoes bring blankets and food. They start grabbing the potatoes before we've even finished sorting them. The local police told me themselves that they can't punish a whole crowd. There are too many people, and there's nothing they can do. Several police cars were parked in a peanut field in Xinjiang. This is the map of Xinjiang. People say there's plenty of farmland in Xinjiang, but farmers now keep having to call the police. Look how many people are collecting peanuts. The farmer can't stop them. He's called the police again, and they're here to move people out. Look. A rice grower lamented, We were robbed today. We worked so hard to grow this rice. Before the harvester was even finished, these older women all went into the field and started cutting it. They wouldn't listen. No matter how much we shouted, it's very dangerous. We told them they could collect whatever they wanted after we finished, but they wouldn't stop. The harvester could have picked up all that rice. Our yield wasn't that good to begin with. They should put themselves in our shoes. How can they feel right about this? Many people have posted videos showing large amounts of produce their elderly relatives brought home. They meant to show off the haul, but commenters questioned whether the crops had been taken from someone else's field. My dad doesn't have a place to stay at home. This is my dad. He doesn't have any farmland, but he's filled the house with corn. Aiyo, that's a big one. Wow, uncle, you don't have any farmland, but you've collected all this corn. Look at this. I've got to hand it to my mother-in-law. She didn't plant any corn, but she collected all of this. That's quite a haul. A vlogger interviewed an older woman collecting rice ducks. She said she did not need to buy any grain. Is that enough for you to eat for a year? Is what you collected enough to feed you for a whole year? Yes. So you can collect over 110 pounds? Yes, I can. That's quite something. You don't need to buy grain at all. No, I'm just doing it because I have nothing else to do. Another problem is that people caught taking crops keep crying to justify it. The farmer asked how much she had collected. The elder woman said she had not collected much. A worker nearby said she was lying. The car fell down. Look at the car. It's so big. There are several bags on that vehicle and you say you haven't collected much. You're lying. It's not from his field. I collect it in someone else's field. I only just started here. I saw you. You collect it right here in this field. Why don't you admit it? My uncle's struggling. He doesn't have much to do, so I'm collecting some corn for him to grind into flour. It's for my uncle. He doesn't have any farmland. Things are really hard. At my age, I wouldn't be out here collecting corn otherwise. The farmer criticized her for bringing an elderly man out with her. She kept insisting that her uncle was struggling and in poor health, and that she was collecting corn to make flour for him, but commenters said she was making excuses for herself. A vegetable grower went to his field and found someone stealing vegetables. We've got another one who has been eliminated. I've caught another person stealing vegetables. They say everyone is comfortably off now, yet people are still stealing vegetables. Growing these crops isn't easy. People steal from us every day. Is it really necessary? Are things that hard for you? Did you plant this cabbage? Who planted it? Did you? This was being thrown away. Who said that? Did you plant it? No, I saw you had taken the others away and left these here, so I cut a few to eat. Aren't these being thrown away? Who said that? Who did you ask? You already took the ones over there. Who told you these weren't wanted? After the farmer pressed the issue, the person taking the vegetables had nothing more to say. Crowds taking growers' crops have become a common sight in rural China in recent years. Confrontations happen often, and the victims usually have little resource. One person compiled these examples from across the country. In Yichun Heilongjiang, about a dozen villagers followed a harvester through a field, collecting soybeans. They refused to leave despite repeated appeals. The growers said the beans were a minor issue. The main concern was that someone could be hurt by the machine. In Hanzhong, Shanqi, villagers rushed through a gate to grab distiller's grain to feed cattle or pigs. Even when someone fell, others kept running without looking back. A worker said people had fought over the grain before. The crowd pushed and shoved. In Fuyang, Anhui, people rushed to collect soybeans left under a harvester. The owner objected, and the confrontation turned into pushing and pulling. In Baoding, Hebei, people ignored appeals to stop taking peanuts. Two vehicles drove into the field in an attempt to stop them. In Jinshan, Hubei, more than a hundred villagers rushed into a field to grab peanuts while a large harvester was still running, kicking up clouds of dust. A field guard shouted himself hoarse, saying they were not trying to stop people collecting leftovers. They were afraid someone would get hurt. The villagers stayed with their woven sacks and bamboo baskets. In Fuyang, Anhui, a group of older people took sorghum from a field before it had been harvested. In Nantong, Jiangsu, eight villagers stowed vegetables together despite the growers' attempts to stop them. In Zhanjiang, Guangdong, villagers gathered to steal sweet potatoes. A man chased them, recovered the stolen crops, and shouted for them to get out. The grower explained that people were lounging once the sweet potatoes had been dug up. In Xi'an, Shanxi, watermelons across more than half an acre were taken. Someone's hand was pinched and injured. The people taking the melons came from a village that had just been named a model village. People collecting growers' crops have also provoked violent responses. In mid-October 2024, a large crowd followed a corn harvester in Baozhi, Shanxi, collecting corn. After they ignored appeals to stop, The farmer set up fireworks on a vehicle and fired them toward the crowd. People shows more than 50 people collecting corn in the field, including older adults. The person who posted it described the fireworks as a last resort and said the crowd was openly stealing. Mainland newspaper Xiaoxiang Morning Herald confirmed the incident. Its report said similar confrontations had happened many times and people had been injured before. In mid-October 2024, an older person in Baoding, Hebei, was beaten to death by a field owner after collecting corn. Please confirm the incident. Commenters said similar incidents would keep occurring as the economy weakened and making a living became harder. Some injuries would be accidental, others deliberate. They said this was only the beginning. A commenter on Next said people in many countries eat rice, yet they had not seen people elsewhere grabbing grain like this. The commenter described a deep fear of food shortages in China, saying the scenes looked like people who had gone hungry for three days suddenly finding food. Commenters said many rural families still depended on leftover crops to get by. Others question the promise of a moderately prosperous society when people spend their time between farming seasons collecting peanuts from other people's fields. Another described life as a struggle on the hardest possible setting. China's economy has remained weak in recent years, while unemployment has risen. Mortgages and other financial burdens have put people under heavy pressure. Rural farmers face even greater difficulties than city residents. Migrant workers struggle to find steady jobs away from home. Many travel around the country looking for temporary work, only to finish the year with little to show for it. At the annual legislative and political advisory meetings in March, authorities announced a 20 yuan increase in farmers' monthly pensions, from 143 yuan to 163 yuan. Given current prices, the increase was widely seen as far too small. Data show that average pensions for retired company employees are more than 10 times those of farmers. For retired government and public For public institution employees, the gap reaches 30 to 50 times. Senior CCP officials enjoy even more generous retirement privileges. Even before the pandemic, local governments repeatedly falsified results while the CCP promoted its poverty relief campaign. Corruption included invented projects, fabricated records, and inflated beneficiary accounts. State media acknowledged these problems. Yet in 2021, despite the falsified results, Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping declared that China had eliminated poverty and built a moderately prosperous society. People inside and outside the country accused the party of openly lying. Since the pandemic, China's economy has continued to stagnate. Lower-income families are struggling. Many middle-class people have fallen back into poverty, and job losses have spread. Xi Jinping's policies have brought tighter political control and greater economic hardship. Many analysts believe the economy cannot hold up much longer. They say China could lose the gains of decades of reform and opening, or even slide back toward the Mao Zedong era. Some incidents involving crowds taking crops may also be linked to corruption among local CCP officials. On October 14, 2024, people began collecting corn beside a harvester in Zhoukou, Henan. They later began taking it by force. A witness, Mr. Wang, said the farm covered more than 330 acres. Corn was taken from dozens of acres, with at least 500 to 600 people involved. Video shows the road beside the cornfield packed with motorized tricycles. After receiving a call, local police sent tactical officers to maintain order. The Changjiao Township government also sent staff. Some local commenters link the incident to government policies that pressured villagers to transfer their land use rights. Villages leased those rights to commercial growers. The process was described as voluntary, but residents said it was partly forced. Officials visited households that refused. Leases started at five years, with annual payments equivalent to about 6,100 yuan an acre, or 850 US dollars. Contractors then grew the corn. Older villagers who could not leave to find work had no land left to farm, so they tried to collect corn left behind after the harvest. People familiar with the situation said village officials received improper benefits from the contractors. Villagers also discovered that officials had pocketed government subsidies for converting farmland back to forest. Some incidents were directly triggered by state media reports. On November 7, 2025, a grower in Inner Mongolia using the online name Sun Jiang, meaning village chief, said a false news report describing his cabbage as free had drawn 700 to 800 people to his fields. Much of his 66 acres of cabbage had not yet been harvested. The crop was taken within two days. An online video shows many vehicles, including trucks, parked across a large vegetable People carrying knives and bags were taking cabbages. According to information supplied by the farmer, local state-run newspaper Hongshan Evening News posted a video on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and other platforms on November 4, 2025. It advertised free cabbage cutting and gave the location. The report said that after three potatoes, there was another surprise, three cabbages at a site in Qifeng. The state-run outlet also interviewed people collecting cabbages, who said they were very happy with their haul. The farmer wrote that Hongshan Evening News had described his cabbage as free. He said he owned the field and had never said the crop was unwanted or free to take. He felt helpless as people arrived after seeing the report. At the peak, 700 to 800 people came, far more than he could control. He told those taking the cabbages that their happiness came at the grower's expense. Information about free cabbage began circulating online in mid-October. Some vloggers said hail-damaged crops could be collected for free. Hongshan Evening News published the story without verifying it. The affected growers lost nearly 1 million yuan, about 140,000 US dollars. Commenters condemned the report and demanded compensation. Hongshan Living News deleted the videos and closed the comments, but did not respond to the criticism or issue a public apology. The matter was left unresolved. Beyond villagers' financial difficulties and local corruption, this behavior also has its historical roots. After taking power, the CCP imposed agricultural cooperatives and then people's communes. Farmers' incomes fell sharply, leaving them without enough food. The Great Famine from 1959 to 1961 caused tens of millions of deaths in mainland China. People resorted to theft and taking food by force to survive. Statistics show that over more than five years, from 1955 to 1961, there were more than 1,300 major incidents involving at least 20 people seizing grain. Such incidents happen repeatedly. More than 30 people, all ordinary farmers, were sentenced to death for their involvement. In recent years, farmers have entered fields to seize crops across the country, well beyond China's central heartland. The scenes have raised fears of another major Vlogger Gan Cheng Wan wrote that he grew up in central China during the Cultural Revolution. His parents mainly ate sweet potatoes and coarse grains. Steamed wheat buns were reserved for a few days around holidays. He said the poverty of that era was hard to forget. In early 1979, as reforms began and land was allocated to households, families welcomed the wheat harvest. Everything left after the state grain levy was theirs. At first, though, people still went to collect wheat in other families' fields after finishing their own harvest. Those doing so were poor. He recalled feeling anxious and humiliated as they were constantly chased away. What was called gleaning was often really taking crops by force. People grew bolder and began secretly cutting wheat before it was harvested. They were treated as thieves wherever they went. He linked this to farmers' lingering fear of famine as they first gained greater freedom. Later, the practice disappeared locally. By the second year of reform, food was no longer scarce. Families eventually had grain to spare. Young people went to coastal areas to earn money and lost interest in farming. Fields being left idle became fairly common. For decades afterward, he had no longer heard about people gaining wheat or seizing grain. The writer said that, looking back, his experience collecting wheat marked a transition from poverty under central planning to greater prosperity after opening up. He feared that its return could signal a reversal back toward central planning and poverty. China analyst Yang Bo said Chinese farmers had not always been inclined to seize grain. He linked the behavior to the CCP's rise to power, arguing that the party's origins involved coercion and theft, its forces sometimes burned, killed, and looted, including taking grain. During its land revolution, the party seized private land under the slogan of overthrowing landlords and redistributing farmland. He said this allowed some farmers to gain without working for it, and that the legacy of this thinking remained. After taking power, the Communist Party abolished private land ownership. People retained the right to use land, but not to own it. After reform and opening began, governments at various levels acquired land from residents at prices far below market value, then sold it to developers at much higher prices. When residents refused, authorities seized it by force. This also sharply reduced the amount of farmland. Yang Bo said rural land in China is collectively owned. Families farm small scattered plots, while large leaseholders combine collective land into bigger operations and use machinery to harvest it. Villagers have a share in the land and should receive a share of the rental returns, he said. But without a system for distributing those returns, the arrangement has created lasting tensions.