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Lin's public addressing was hailed by villagers, who dispersed shortly after the speech.

A villager, Hong Ruiqing, said Wukan was currently in its best period for years, as the new committee had done within a few months what the former committee failed to do over the past few decades.

"I envisioned that more land would be returned in the future," Hong said.

Not all villagers, however, are satisfied with the work of the new committee, indicating that Wukan still has a long way to go before good self-governance is realized.

Quite a few villagers argued that at least 6,000 mu of land had been illegally transferred, and hoped that the new committee would get all the land back as soon as possible.

Moreover, the new committee is facing challenges of raising the livelihood of residents.

Hong Ruichao, a committee member in charge of agricultural and industrial management of the village, said Wukan's economic activities had been bogged down, partly thanks to the persistent protests last year.

Lin hoped the villagers would have full trust in the committee. "Real democracy lies in mutual communication, mutual consideration and mutual understanding," Lin said.

Experts said it is crucial to mobilize the villagers to be involved in self-governance.

"We need to continue thinking over and discussing how to let the Wukan villagers reach consensus with the governments, concerning the land disputes, in a democratic way so as to achieve sustainable development for the village," said Zhu Jiangang, director of the Civilian and Social Development Research Center at Sun Yat-sen University.

"It's a long and bumpy road, but Wukan has already started the journey," Liu said.

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