Emerging Real Estate Markets in Urban China
Emerging Real Estate Markets in Urban China by Tung-Pi Chent I. INTRODUCTION The law governing the ownership of land in China has recently begun another fundamental transformation in urban areas. Where only forty years ago feudalism prevailed, and where a decade ago all land was communally owned, the land reforms now under way are part of the general transforma- tion of the centrally planned economy into - "socialist commodity economy," relying increasingly on market mechanisms for the efficient allocation of re- sources. In 1987, the Thirteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) called for the establishment of a socialist market system that would include markets for such essential factors of production as funds, la- bor, and real estate.' Indeed, the foundation of a real estate market has be- gun to develop in urban China, with the introduction of payment for the use of land and the legitimation of trade in land use rights. These reforms, how- ever, are far from complete, and commodity interests in land are still rela- tively rare in the country as a whole. The reforms are most advanced in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and coastal cities where foreign investment is concentrated. 2 Nevertheless, trends clearly point toward their expansion 3 throughout the country. t Professor of Law, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. LL.B. National Taiwan Univ., 1959; M.C.L. Columbia, 1963, LL.M. Yale, 1965; J.S.D. Yale, 1968. The author wishes to acknowledge and thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for financial assistance, and his assistant, Casper Sinnege.
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