Every successful peasant rebellion in China’s history has been inspired by calls for more equitable distribution of land. That is why the current government, heir to the last peasant revolt in 1949, is so worried about a fledgling land reform movement that its organisers say is set to spread across the country, challenging the foundation of communism.

China’s normally efficient state security apparatus was caught off-guard in December when separate groups of peasant farmers in four remote parts of the country published very similar statements on the internet claiming to have seized their collectively owned land from the state and unilaterally privatised it. Security agents in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jiangsu and Shaanxi and the port city of Tianjin quickly rounded up most of the handful of peasants who signed the documents. Some have since been released after signing confessions while others remain in custody or have disappeared, their fate unknown.