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Chinese Farmer Fights Eviction with Homemade Cannon 2010-06-10 13:08 A desperate man trying to hold on to his land. Yang Youde lives on the outskirts of Wuhan city in China's central Hubei province. To defend his property against violent demolitions crews, he made a canon. The 56-year-old farmer lives on this 4 acre property. He has a contract for using the land until 2029, state-media China Daily reported. But as the property development boom sweeps across China, local developers vying for his land have been trying to drive him away. [Yang Youde, Wuhan Farmer]: "The first time they came to beat me up, there were 30 people. On May 25, over a hundred came. They started to gather at 3:30 in the afternoon, and attacked me until 5:00 p.m." In response, Yang converted his push cart into a mobile rocket launcher. His ammunition? Fireworks. He then built this watch tower to look out for attackers. It's armed with this homemade canon that can fire projectiles over 300 feet. Yang says his weapons are not meant to injure any attackers. He just wants to scare them off. [Yang Youde, Wuhan Farmer]: "I am being picked on, and my legal rights are being taken away. I'm just using legal means to defend my rights—using an extreme method to defy violence." Yang was offered the equivalent of $19,000 U.S. dollars for his land last year. He asked for five times that amount, saying that's what he was entitled to under compensation policies, state-run China Daily reported. But before negotiations could finish, developers sent in demolition crews again to try and take down Yang's home.