When the villagers of Jitan, a small township in China’s central Henan province, were facing a threat to their lands from a powerful developer, they turned to Beijing for help.

When their petitions fell on deaf ears, the villagers decided to take matters into their own hands: three farmers, out of desperation, quietly set up their own "government office", and using copies of official seals, began issuing "orders" in the style of government directives, telling local developers to prevent their land acquisitions.

Remarkably, for six months, the citizen-run government office – perhaps the only in one party-controlled China run by ordinary people – saw unsuspecting developers follow their orders, assuming that the directives were from the Communist Party. The office even sent out recruitment notices. Ten aspiring civil servants applied.

For half-a-year, China’s only people-run government office appeared to work as a government should: it helped fight for villagers’ rights, and blocked developers’ attempting to forcibly acquire farmland.

However, last month, local CPC cadres discovered the three person-run office and shut it down. The three farmers – Zhang Haixin, Ma Xianglan and Wang Liangshuang – may now face three years in jail, charged with impersonating a public office and fabricating official documents, the Global Times reported.

Their story has shed light on how far China’s villagers, desperate to hold on to their land, or at least to receive fair compensation, are willing to go in an increasingly futile battle against powerful developers, who often have close ties with local Communist Party cadres and leaders looking to boost their coffers.

The story of Ms. Zhang (46), who led the effort to establish a “people’s government”, began in 2007, when she started petitioning provincial government officials against local leaders, who were visiting her restaurant but refusing to pay, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Her blocked petitions led her to organise fellow citizens who were fighting for justice, as she led groups of petitioners to the provincial capital, Zhengzhou, even paying for their travel.

When their efforts failed, she decided to set up her own government office. She studied land policy and the law, closely examined official documents and then started issuing orders using copied official seals.

Her “government” operated out of her one-room apartment that sat down the street from the local government office.

Remarkably, their office functioned for a year, issuing orders that helped protect villagers’ rights – and, some would argue, fulfilling the role that the local Communist Party government had failed to perform.

However, earlier this year, a property developer discovered their office and reported it to higher authorities. The Dengzhou city’s prosecutors said the three have now been charged with using fake seals and issuing fabricated documents.

Ma Xianglan, a farmer from a village near Dengzhou, told the SCMP that Ms. Zhang was seen by many as someone who, for villagers, “could get things done”.

“Soon as I saw her, I was disappointed. She was chubby and tanned, standing at 1.6 meters," Ms. Ma said. “But when we began to speak, my doubts began to clear as her speech is well paced and she knew a lot about land policy.”

A lawyer told the Global Times Ms. Zhang could face a jail term of three years. For the villagers of Henan, though, she is anyone but a criminal.