Land Grabs in the PRC

[Randy W]

Some news from the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

 

Basically, the farmers' lives and livelihoods are disrupted for a lump sum and an uncertain future. The lump sum is usually determined by local officials, which has led to rioting in many areas.

 

CPC moves to solve land disputes amid rising protest

 

 

 

: According to China's existing land system, rural collectives, usually a rural village committee, rather than farmers themselves, own the land in rural areas, a systematic arrangement that came into being in China after several land reforms initiated by the CPC lifted it to national power.

 

. . .

 

Under the existing rules, the state can nationalize the collective-owned land over reasons like "public interests" and transfer farmland for industrial and construction use. To build more homes for migrant workers flocking to cities and towns amid the country's rapid urbanization, local governments grabbed a number of land from farmers over the years, then sold them to industrial and housing developers, but compensated very little to rural residents.

 

Moreover, farmers are deprived of any gains in the land value after their farmland is expropriated, thus fueling increasing discontent and complaints from farmers,

 

. . .

 

"Under the current land expropriation system, farmers are almost excluded from benefits of land price appreciation," said Xu Xiaojing, director of the Research Department of Rural Economy with the Development Research Center, a government think tank under the State Council, China's cabinet.

 

He said the current compensation standard for expropriated land is too low, thus limiting farmers from sharing the revenues of increases in land prices.

 

. . .

 

"The compensation looks quite a lot of money, but we've lost our land and can't enjoy the same treatment in employment, medicare and education as urban residents do," Yang said.

 

"Our lives have no guarantee, and even my kid has to pay extra fees to go to school in the city. All these are quite annoying," she said.

 

. . .

 

"In reforming the land expropriation system, the government should appropriately raise the one-off compensations to farmers, but establishing a mechanism to guarantee their long-term lives is even more important," Wang said.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Randy W (see edit history)