What is "shengyou"

Shengyou is a village south of the Dingzhou City in Hebei Province, China. Here occurred an incident when over two hundred allegedly hired thugs descended on a village in northern China and clashed with local residents over a land dispute. Seven people were killed and 48 others injured and hospitalized, eight of whom in critical condition. The chaos was captured on video by one of the farmers and later released by Washington Post.