Collective Ownership and Land Distribution in China

Land issue has been very important for Chinaʼs rural development. This study looks into the land issue in China and discusses whether the privatization of Chinaʼs collective land ownership could be a solution. It offers readers the historical background of Chinaʼs land issue from 1949 to 1978, giving detailed accounts of the Chinese Communist Partyʼs (CCP) land policies from land reform to collectivization and then to de-collectivization, especially how the CCP gradually turned private land ownership into collective one. Theoretical framework of the peasants' “Counter action” is used to analyze the peasantsʼ behaviour that interacted with the CCP and finally influenced the CCPʼs policies both before and after 1978. It brings in the topic of land privatization and presents different opinions and arguments on a possible land privatization in China, followed by analyses on whether privatization would benefit the peasants, which brings out a conclusion that land privatization in China could benefit peasants in a way but does not necessarily solve all the problems that Chinese peasants are facing.