Revolt signals discontent in China.(Main)

Byline: TIM JOHNSON Knight Ridder

TAISHI, China - A telltale scent of insurrection wafts across parts of rural China, and it's filling the air of this industrialized Pearl River Delta village.

Angry residents have made the village hall a squatters' camp. They've evicted the mayor, who's also the local Communist Party chief, and seized village budget records, suspecting malfeasance. They've set up sentinels in case police riot squads come to evict them.

A red banner suspended over the hall's entry gate declares, "Remove the village officials. Give our rights back."

What's happening in Taishi, population 2,000, might seem like garden-variety social strife. But in China, such local revolts are a bellwether of broader unrest. The fault lines are many, including land …