Urban Land Reform in China

Abstract

In the ten years since the first draft of the Land Management Law 1988 was passed, the scale at which urban land markets have been created has been breathtaking. Not only has land in most major cities been granted by the state to private developers and individuals as a market product, but land usage has also been rationalised by the market price mechanism. The government has obtained an additional source of revenue to finance other long-overdue projects, such as the development of social and physical infrastructure, and individuals now have an extra vehicle for investing their personal wealth or developing their talents. This chapter will discuss the changes that the reform has brought to the economy, to institutional standards and to local environments.