Registration Number 3200608289420 (博讯boxun.com)

   My wife and I are key investors of the Suzhou Lujiafu Garments Company located at North Xudu Bridge in the Lumu district of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. The company occupies over approximately 6400 square meters of land, which was leased from the Lumu district government for a 50 year period, starting in 1994. On this land we committed substantial development investments by erecting the Company’s textile factory, together with 18 commercial shops. In total, we invested over US$600,000. At one stage, about 200 workers were employed at the textile factory; however, with the Yuanhe (formerly called Lumu) district of Xiangcheng County giving us notification that they intended to sell the land, we were given no option but to gradually close the factory and dismiss the workers. The notification of the Yuanhe district’s intention to sell the land was given without warning and without any means for appeal or for reaching an equitable settlement. We have been put in powerless position and our lease, which has 42 years remaining, is an apparently meaningless, unbinding contract with the local government. The purpose of this letter is to make known the gross injustice that has being forced upon us. Our hope is that exposure of this injustice will bring about a recourse in the Yuanhe district’s actions. The specifics leading to our current situation are provided in the following.

   In July 2002, the Yuanhe district of Xiangcheng County notified us that it had sold the land to a property developer and that it was prepared to only offer compensation substantially less than the real market value of the remaining lease. At that time we were receiving approximately US$50,000 per year from the renting of the shops. The potential to earn more was in place as we had plans to erect a 4 level office block above the shops. Moreover, we could have leased the factory. A conservative approximation shows that over the 42 year period remaining in the lease, our earnings could have been US$2.1 million. These are now lost earnings.

   Any sort of negotiations with the local government has been futile. Their final, non-negotiable offer that was given to us equates to approximately US$325,000. This amount doesn’t even cover our initial investment! To further the absurdity of that offer, the amount could purchase only 2000 square meters of nearby farmland, with no capital improvements. In spite of this, and to show how helpless our position is, the Xiangcheng County Court has just given us a ONE DAY NOTIFICATION that our factory will be knocked down. The lines of communication do not allow for the possibility to appeal. We apparently have no rights and the government can do whatever it pleases. We have been imposed a gross injustice.

   To summarize our situation, the Yuanhe district government sold our land without our permission, even though we had a 50 year lease on the land. Secondly, the Xiangcheng County Court has informed us that our factory on this land will be knocked down in 24 hours. We are being robbed of our assets by the local Chinese government and we were helpless.

   It is clear that foreign investors in China have no rights to protect their investments. LET THIS BE A WARNING.

   If you are interested in our story, my wife and I can be contacted by claudialuo@yahoo.com.

   Yours truly,

   Brian Gleeson (博讯boxun.com)