The violence was triggered by a land dispute between Mr Lin and the boss of the Jinyuan Industry Company, who owns the industrial complex next to the pensioner's house.

Mr Lin bought his 388 square metre piece of land for 5,820 yuan in 1987. At the same time, about 10 families from the Lin clan bought a combined total of more than 2,000 square metres. The property was remote wasteland, so none of the families bothered to build on it.

In 1999, land officials from the county government included the 2,000 square metres in a 67-hectare industrial zone without informing Mr Lin or the other owners. In 2003, the county government sold the land rights to Jinyuan.

Unclear land ownership is often the result of repeated sales of the same plot by various unco-ordinated government units and Mr Lin's ordeal is a typical example.

Last year, Mr Lin and other owners, realising the value of their land had soared, started to build houses on their plots.

Jinyuan complained to the county government that people were building on its land, but no official was sent to mediate.

On November 18, Mr Lin was summoned by Jinyuan owner Lin Zhen to settle the dispute.

'When I arrived, I saw dozens of people gathering on my land. Some were building a boundary fence on my land for Lin Zhen's company,' Mr Lin said.

He said when he tried to stop the work, he was attacked by six or seven young men who punched and kicked him unconscious.

Lin Zhen, who is also a county committee member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said only one of his men was involved in the assault.

'The suspect is a migrant worker. We have handed him to the police,' he said, denying he was behind the beating. 'I was not at the scene.'

Lin Zhenhong , a bricklayer who was working at the scene, said he saw Lin Zhen lead many people to the site before Lin Qicai's arrival, but that the boss disappeared during the beating.

'There were at least six men aged between 20 and 30 who spoke the local dialect, joining in the thrashing,' he said.

Yu Haisheng , a former party secretary of Dabu village representing the farmers who signed over their land to Lin Qicai in 1987, said the tragedy had stemmed from a careless mistake made by county land officials. 'The land officials had vague ideas of the boundaries of the industrial development zone, because of numerous personnel changes over the past two decades,' he said.

Mr Yu said the county government's failure to mediate the dispute from the beginning was also to blame. He said no official had been willing to take responsibility for the mistake. 'I suspect their reluctance might be caused by Lin Zhen's important role in our county.' Lin Zhen, who is also the vice-honorary chairman of the Foundation of Haifeng Police Bureau, said his company had gained an official land transaction permit from the county land resources department.

'But Lin Qicai and others didn't have it [the permit],' he said.

Beijing-based land dispute lawyer Li Baiguang said land in rural areas could not be sold because it had belonged to collective owners. 'All transactions should have permission from county level land authorities,' he said.

When the land resources department was set up in 1998, all earlier deals should have been submitted to related authorities for further approval, he said.

Lin Qicai said he did not handle formalities for his land ownership as he had moved to Shenzhen in 1988.

Qin Bing , another land lawyer in Beijing, said a land transaction contract could also be recognised by officials if it had been made through procedures that conformed to the legal rules of the time.

Chen Honglu , director of the industrial development zone in the county, confessed the dispute had been caused by the informal land administration conducted by the former government.

'We are very concerned by this incident and have further investigated it,' he said, adding that the county government had considered giving an equivalent plot of land to Mr Lin and the other 10 families as compensation.

'Developing Haifeng is our key project; we don't want any negative impact on it,' he said. 'We are sparing no efforts to conciliate with both parties ... this problem will be solved very soon.'

Buying wasteland near townships from farm production teams and village committees for building homes is commonplace in Guangdong and other coastal areas, where rapid urbanisation has seen the value of residential land rise.

Legal experts remind owners who made deals before 1998 that they should reapply with related documents to county land authorities to avoid future disputes. In Shanwei, land owners need to pay 50 yuan for each square metre for the land premium.