Land use rights reform in China : Some theoretical issues

The socialist regime in China abolished the long-established system of private property rights in land during the Great Leap Forward (1957–1962) and the Cultural Revolution (1966–1978) and replaced it with a bureaucratic and discretionary system based upon the Communist Party hierarchy. Recently, however, through the so-called ‘land use rights reform’ introduced as part of the economic liberalization programme of Deng Xiao Ping, the Chinese government has in effect revived private property rights in land in the form of leasehold interests allocated by auction, tender and private negotiation.