The evolution of the property system in China: between the socialist heritage and liberal market

While urban land in China can be transferred commercially, the transfer of rural land has been locked. Property rights in rural China are vulnerable to dictates of local government policies. An effective way to reduce title insecurity or uncertainty is to provide landholders with titles, backed by a legal system enforcing the property rights. However, this market-driven theory only provides a general conceptual framework and the extent to which it operates to a particular country depends on the ideology-driven policies, economic development level, customs and other factors. This chapter aims to explore to what extent the state continues to maintain public control over land use and land markets. It maintains that despite economic growth, the institutional structures of land system have not been completely transformed. Rather than a linear transition to private ownership, the institutional reform of land markets in China is more complex than economic theory or law and development theory suggests.