I don't think the courts are uneducated. I think more cynically. The amount owed is $14k. I bet the owners are still driving flash cars and own several properties. The company may not have assets to pay, but I bet the owners do.

I have just come back from a quick trip around that area, and spent one afternoon and night in Dali. Dali has found a new identity.

I have visited Dali several times over the years, and like many people on here was disappointed with what I saw. The slow commercialisation of Dali, leading to a schizophrenic (not one thing, not another) mess.

On my recent visit, the street vendors had gone the really low end food places had mostly gone. The city was busy, and for a mid-week just before CNY that was surprising. It was not a frantic busy, everything was moving smoothly and working well. Even noise seemed to be down, and I found it a lot less stressful.

There is a sort of gentrification among traders. There are more upmarket shops. There are many more shaokao (national trend) and most of these are chains, rather than small independents. Many of the small family food places have redecorated and are not the old dim and dismal places that they used to be. The commercial development has also spread into other streets.

Dali is not the Dali of old, but it has found a new identity. This new identity may not be to everybody's taste, but I found the city a much nicer place to stay, than I did 3 years ago.

So we must make them learn.

You can take a horse to water, but a pencil has to be lead.

@Janjal, your argument contains many assumptions and additional requirements (story tellers etc). If we cannot provide the additional resources your suggested strategy would require and you cannot get China's rural poor to demand answers; again we have a moot point.
Comparing EU farmers, who are business owners who learn to work the system for profit with the rural poor, Is perhaps a case of chalk and cheese.

Of course material wealth is not the only measure, but it affects many other measures, and is a predominant feature in a capitalist system.

Perhaps it is human nature to want more than we have now, in capitalism this includes having more than the guy next to us. If we have more now than we had before, there is likely to be a sense of achievement/progress/increased security/satisfaction/happiness in that fact alone,. It is also a very simple qualitative measure for almost anyone.

Q. Do I have more than last year. A. Yes/no. If yes, has my relative position compared to my neighbors also improved? Am I content/happy with this?
In reality the questions are not even asked, they are not even out there, but they are part of the zeit geist. In cities with stronger economic growth the answers to the questions are going to be yes for more people. Chengdu is such a place. It is only when the personal costs of achieving this wealth are perceived to outweigh the advantages of the new wealth that people start to question it, but that comes later.