Contending conceptions of ownership in urbanizing China

Abstract

This paper explores divergent conceptions of ownership and property rights pertaining to land and buildings that are articulated in the context of protests against property development in the context of China’s urbanisation. The effects of urban development, demolition and eviction on tens of millions of Chinese citizens have been profound. Faced with a government decision to ‘develop’ their area that leaves them no real choice, not all rural or urban residents actually oppose this decision. But, often, some residents protest and resist, in recent years in increasingly creative, dramatic and sometimes tragic ways. In this context, two radically opposed conceptions of ownership have emerged. If State and popular views of ownership and property rights continue to diverge, the enforcement of the current legal rules reflecting the State’s view of land ownership and property rights may become unsustainable.