One recent morning at the complaints center, the protesters are cautious and silent, except for a round man with a wispy beard, an unemployed and homeless veteran named Wu Wei. He says the government ignores his pleas for help.
"I treat the Communist Party like my mother and father," Wu howls, "but they make me feel like an orphan. Nobody will listen to reason. The people at the complaints office say, 'Go ahead, complain to whomever you want.' "
Yang Junqi is a decorated veteran with similar claims. During China's border war against Vietnam, he killed three enemy soldiers, wounded seven, captured one and saved eight of his comrades. He was wounded three times and still suffers from his injuries. He says that if his comrades had not pulled him out of a gully and taken him for medical treatment, he would have died in Vietnam.
After the war, Yang says he was given a job at the local tax bureau, but he was later sent home. When he asked for an explanation, he was told that he had been granted an early retirement due to illness. Yang said he didn't have any illness and he hadn't applied to retire.
"My friends told me that my employer duped me," Yang says. "They said my employer faked my retirement in order to give my job to one of their friends."
Yang has been protesting his treatment for the past 10 years, traveling to Beijing with a former machine gunner from his hometown who served with him in Vietnam. He says local officials in his native Henan province have ignored instructions from Beijing to restore his job and benefits.
By: Brant
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