In March 2004, more than 300 residents from Chen's village of Dongshigu filed a petition to the village government demanding that they release the village accounts—which hadn't been made public for over ten years—and address the issue of illegal land requisitions. When village authorities failed to respond, villagers escalated their appeals to the township, county and municipal governments, still without response. Village authorities then began to publicly threaten villagers. In November 2004, Chen acted on behalf of villagers to file a lawsuit in the Qi'nan County Court against the local Public Security Bureau for negligence. The case was accepted, and proceedings began in early 2005.