China Focus: New land reform to give farmers more property rights (2)

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"A new round of 'land reform' will allow farmers to enjoy more revenues from their land and will prompt the integration of urban and rural areas," said Zhang Deyuan, director of the rural reform and economic and social development research institute with Anhui University.

According to Chinese law, urban land is owned by the state, and rural land is under collective ownership. Farmers may use the land, but have no rights to sell or develop it.

Since the 1990s, the property market has flourished in cities and has been a major engine of growth, while ownership rules for rural land have not changed in decades, constricting rural development.

While farmers cannot trade their land, the law allows the government to acquire land for public use after compensating occupants, and then legally change the land use, transferring the title to real estate developers at a substantial profit. This practice is currently a major source of revenues for some local governments.

At the Yuji Village in neighboring Lingbi County, a cultural project covering an area of 300 mu of land is under construction. The land has been requisitioned at the price of 20,000 yuan per mu from villagers.

The project is expected to bring more than 5 million yuan in tourism revenue each year after completion, according to official data. However, the villagers who have transferred their land will not share those revenues.

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