Note:
(a) Elsewhere it is said 记者们遭到解雇. Plural form.
(b) Russian Journalists Condemn 'Gag' After Putin Story. BBC, Dec 14, 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16183112
(Kommersant fired two top executives)
The report is based on the following reports (latest first).
(a) Malcolm Moore, Rebel Chinese Village of Wukan 'Has Food for Ten Days': The rebel Chinese village of Wukan, which has driven out the Communist party, has resorted to smuggling in food past a police ring of steel which has cut off its population of more than 20,000. Daily Telegraph, Dec 14, 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ ... d-for-ten-days.html
Quote:
"But the villagers were unbowed yesterday, and their leaders said they had seen signs that the government would 'blink first.' 'We have an old saying here,” said Chen Liangshu, one of the villagers, referring to the legendary aggression of the Wukanese and their neighbours. 'In heaven there is the Thunder God, on earth there is Lufeng and Wukan.'
"'We are using a corridor to the next village to smuggle in meat and vegetables on the back of motorbikes, but each trip takes an hour,' [a villager] added.
Note:
(i) The local phrase is 天上雷公，地下海陆丰--or rarely 天上有雷公，地下海陆丰/ 上有雷公，下有海陆丰.
(ii) 广东省 汕尾市 comprises 海丰县, 陆丰市 and 陆河县.
(iii) In the Web I also find a depiction: 民风强悍的乌坎人.
The tidy in "make a tidy sum from fishing" is an adjective that means:
"LARGE, SUBSTANTIAL <a tidy profit>" www.m-w.com
(b) Malcolm Moore, Inside Wukan: the Chinese Village tThat Fought Back; Something extraordinary has happened in the Chinese village of Wukan. Daily Telegraph, Dec 13, 2011 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ ... at-fought-back.html
("Although China suffers an estimated 180,000 “mass incidents” a year, it is unheard of for the Party to sound a retreat.")
(c) Malcolm Moore, Chinese Police Besiege Town and Cut of Food Supplies in Bid to Quell Riots. Daily Telegraph, Dec 12, 2011 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ ... to-quell-riots.html
("For months, the 20,000 villagers who live in Wukan, near Shanwei city in Guangdong province, have protested first at having nearly £100 million of their land seized and sold off by the local government, and then at the brutal tactics used by police to regain control of the village")