Chinese protest after money doesn't grow on trees

By Ian Ransom

BEIJING (Reuters) - Hundreds of people in Beijing scuffled with police outside a government office on Monday, demanding help recovering money from a get-rich-quick scheme involving tree plantations to stem desertification.

More than 30,000 investors, mostly retirees, sunk 1.3 billion yuan (109 million pounds) into a company's tree-planting scheme in the arid northern region of Inner Mongolia, lured by promises of huge returns within eight years.

Authorities seized the company's plantations and sued its directors for false advertising after the project was exposed as a failed pyramid scheme, state media reported earlier this year.

Police in Beijing detained several protesters for putting up a banner outside the government office, as angry investors from across the country complained of dead trees and lost life savings.

Protesters complained the tree plantations on land transferred for the scheme had been left to wither and die after the company was investigated and its assets seized.

"(The company) planted trees in the desert in Inner Mongolia, then sold them to us. It was supposed to green the desert," said a Beijing resident surnamed Li, who lost about 100,000 yuan in the scheme.

"The company planted about 720,000 mu (48,000 hectares), but about 40 percent died," Li added.

The scheme, which saw some farmers transfer their land to the company to use for its plantations, has shone the spotlight on China's recent rural reforms, which will allow farmers to transfer their land-use rights.