Rural Land in China:

From Ownership to Sustainable Use

Though a key event in China, the adoption of the revised Land Administration Law by China's National People's Congress in 1998 has been passed over in relative silence in the West. The Chinese government has embarked on what can rightfully be termed the 'third land reform' and the political debate behind this law warrants greater scholarly and public attention. Since the introduction of the Household Contract Responsibility System heralded a shift away from socialism in the early 1980s, the big questions for many in China and abroad have remained the same. Will the economic reforms following the privatization of labour and capital eventually also force China to free its last means of production: land? Or, will the Chinese claim of a 'socialist rural market economy' predicated upon state and collective land ownership prove an alternative path for long-term economic growth?

* By PETER HO

A critical moment has been reached: the commercialization of the rural economy has caused great social tensions and a wide array of problems, such as deforestation, desertification, arable land loss owing to urbanization, and the forced eviction of farmers from their land. Yet, fear of large-scale social conflict prompted the central government to leave unanswered the question what is to be done with collective land ownership. The legal indeterminacy of land ownership has created opportunities for local experimentation with property rights, but there is also the significant danger that the collectives may lose out in the struggle over land. Against this backdrop, Peter Ho and Robert Ash (SOAS,University of London) convened the panel 'Rural land in China' at the ICAS 2 in Berlin, Germany this year.

Richard Edmonds (London University), Mark Selden (Binghamton University), and Vivienne Shue (Cornell University) very kindly agreed to act as panel discussants. Brian Schwarzwalder (Rural Development Institute, Seattle) provided new findings on the implementation of the 1998 Land Administration Law. He suggested that the current tenure insecurity in the Household Contract Responsibility System might be harmful to long-term economic growth. Then, Peter Ho showed that central government has deliberately avoided systematic land registration and left collective ownership legally undefined. The reasons behind this are the fear of large-scale social conflict, as well as the creation of space for regional experimentation with tenure arrangements. Wang Weiguo of the China University of Political Science and Law, who is also one of the leading experts involved in the drafting of the Land Administration Law, pleaded for the establishment of land-use rights as a real right, which would eventually make it as secure as ownership. At the same time, a competitive market for land-use rights in the rural areas should be established.

Eduard Vermeer (Leiden University) talked about the land question and egalitarianism in Chinese rural society. He postulated that 'egalitarianism is most strongly expressed in the land question, land being the main traditional asset that provided food security and family survival, and its equal distribution being the main fruit of China's communist revolution.' Frank Pieke (Oxford University) argued that the gradual creation of an open and transparent market in land use rights must not be viewed solely in terms of the economic logic of market reform. Pieke highlighted some of the key contradictions in national policies on land use since 1996.

Roberto Fanfani and Cristina Brasili (both from the University of Bologna) presented their data from the most extensive agricultural census ever held: the China 1997 census of over 214 million rural households. Fanfani and Brasili showed that the new agricultural geography is significantly different from the old one, with important consequences for land use planning. Tony Banks (Massey University, New Zealand), Richard Sanders (Northampton University College), and Pei Xiaolin (Leiden University), dealt with the relationship between property rights and socio-economic change. Finally, Li Weimin (Chinese Academy of Agriculture) gave an insightful lecture on the latest developments of a 'new revolution' in land tenure in Zhejiang. Because of ample alternative farm employment, Zhejiang farmers are able to leave the agricultural realm, return the land to the collective which, in turn, subleases it to outside farmers or even companies. His message was simple: if the economic conditions are right, agriculture with greater economies-of-scale will develop naturally: exit land fragmentation and tenure insecurity.

The land question remains one of the most fundamental problems in China today. Over the past few years, the rapid economic development and expansion of urban areas into the countryside has given rise to a wide variety of land-related problems. In order to guide Chinese rural society safely through the reforms, the central government faces the responsibility to shape the future institutional framework for land policy and administration, and guarantee its social credibility.¹*

Note

1. At present the panel organizers are working on an edited volume on this topic. Draft papers of good quality can still be considered and will be peer reviewed.