Changes in land policy after liberation

The land system is one of my country’s basic systems. Since the founding of New China, in order to adapt to the use and protection of land for economic and social development, the land system has experienced administrative allocation, separation of land use rights and ownership, land Several changes such as the paid transfer of use rights and the "separation of three rights" have promoted the development of urbanization, industrialization and agricultural modernization. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, my country's land market construction has made significant progress, and the land market system has been basically formed. As the foundation of development, land has been the most basic means of production and survival guarantee for farmers for thousands of years. The changes in land policy are aimed at promoting economic construction, solving problems such as extensive land use and protecting cultivated land. my country's land policy has experienced an "expansion type" "Normative type - Reasonable type" changes. Since the founding of New China more than 70 years ago, my country's land system has been continuously optimized. Research on my country's land system mainly focuses on changes in property rights and farmers' rights and interests. The direction of land system reform develops along the path of “integration of factors – structural reorganization – optimization of functions”. After the reform and opening up, the land market began to emerge, market-oriented reforms continued to advance, and the focus of the development of the land market system shifted from income and property rights to price and fairness. Since the reform and opening up, the development of my country's land market has gone through three stages: "the auxiliary role of the market" - "the fundamental role of the market" - "the decisive role of the market". Based on the differences in the classification of the land system reform process in existing studies, this article summarizes the successful experience in the development of my country's land system and land marketization over the past 70 years on the basis of combing the literature, combining the land system and the land market, and provides information for subsequent research. refer to. 1. Land system reform and land market evolution process Land system reform and land market reform are closely related to economic development. The land system is an important institutional force that activates economic vitality. my country's unique land system has created a model for local governments to use land for development. . There are relatively abundant studies on the changes in my country's land system, but there are insufficient studies on the evolution of the land market, and there are differences in the divisions of changes in the land system among academic circles. This article combines the land system with the land market, and on the basis of existing research, divides the process of land system and land market reform into three stages, and constructs a logical framework for the change of the land system. 1.1 The period of socialist revolution and construction (1949-1977): Transition from land private ownership to planned management and control. In rural areas, in 1950, the state began to carry out land reform in rural areas and distributed confiscated land to farmers. From 1950 to 1953, with the completion of the first land reform, the average annual growth rate of my country's grain, cotton, and oil production increased by 13%, 43%, and 21% respectively. In 1953, our country began to implement the first Five-Year Plan and began socialized large-scale production; in 1956, the country began to establish agricultural cooperatives to carry out agricultural production through agricultural cooperatives. The land was mainly managed by collectives. This is the collective land in rural areas of our country. The Origin of Ownership. In 1958, the People's Commune, which evolved from agricultural cooperatives, was officially born. On the basis of collective management, land owned by farmers was gradually transferred to collective ownership. This series of policy changes promoted the development of the rural economy. In cities, urban land use is subject to lease management, and users must pay rent. In 1954, with the establishment of socialist public ownership, the state nationalized urban land through various forms such as confiscation and redemption, and implemented a highly centralized planned management model. By combining urban land management with the planned economy, urban land allocation has obvious "three no's" characteristics (free, indefinite, and no flow), which have continued until the reform of the urban land paid use system after the reform and opening up. 1.2 Reform exploration and development period (1978-2011): From planned allocation to market allocation in rural areas, after 1978, the contract system explored by villagers from the bottom up gradually broke the original collective management model, making land ownership and The separation of contracted management rights effectively solved the shortcomings of collective management under the people's commune system, greatly liberated rural productivity, and gradually kicked off the land market reform. In 1982, the "Minutes of the National Rural Work Conference" clearly stipulated that members' contracted land was not allowed to be bought, sold, rented, transferred or abandoned. The rural land market was strictly restricted, which was not conducive to the development of the rural economy. In 1988, the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Constitution") stipulated that land use rights can be transferred in accordance with legal provisions, which means that land as a special "commodity" can enter the market transaction, marking the The land market moved toward legalization; subsequently, the "Land Management Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Land Management Law") was also revised accordingly. In 2008, the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to allow farmers to carry out diversified land transfers and encourage diversified business forms. It also proposed to gradually establish a unified urban and rural construction land market, accelerating the process of market-oriented reform of rural land elements. In terms of cities, in 1981, the practice of paid use of state-owned land was successively carried out in Shenzhen, Hefei, Fushun, Guangzhou and other places. The paid use of land breaks the original administrative allocation method and provides certain experience for land system reform, but it does not involve the land market mechanism.

In 1982, the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly stated that the relationship between planning and the market is that planning is the mainstay and the market is supplementary. The role of the market cannot be ignored, which means that China's economic system has begun to gradually shift from a "planned economy" to a "planned economy". ", market-assisted" socialist market economy. As the reform progresses, the shortcomings of the administrative allocation method in practice are gradually revealed, and problems such as low land use efficiency and serious waste of land resources have emerged. The reform of the administrative allocation land use method is imperative. The promotion of the contract system in rural areas is The reform of state-owned construction land provides useful reference. In 1987, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province used market methods to complete the first transaction of 50-year use rights of state-owned land, allocating resources through market means for the first time, and removing the obstacles prohibiting the transfer of land use rights under existing laws. With the development of economic system reform, my country's urbanization has developed rapidly, and methods such as land leasing and shareholding have become active. The "Land Management Law" revised in 1988 clearly stipulates the implementation of a paid use system for state-owned land, providing legal protection for the development of the land market. After entering the 21st century, the state-owned land market has developed rapidly. From 2005 to 2013, the land market size, price and marketization degree increased by 113.66%, 274.09% and 37.07% respectively. The "land acquisition-reserve-development-transfer" mechanism has gradually taken shape, and the "bidding, auction, and listing" transfer of urban land has gradually become active. 1.3 The new era of comprehensively deepening reforms (2012 to now): from urban-rural separation to urban-rural integrated development In 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to “promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas”. While developing cities, we must also take into account rural areas. In 2013, the proposal of “establishing a unified urban and rural construction land market” kicked off the comprehensive deepening of reform, and the market allocation of resources gradually shifted from “basic” to “decisive”. In 2015, the central government selected 33 regions across the country as rural “three-land” reform pilots. Since the launch of the pilot, the first auction of rural collective commercial construction land use rights was successfully traded in Meitan County, Guizhou Province. In the same year, the central government selected 15 regions across the country to conduct pilot projects for "homestead system reform." Through exploration, each region increased farmers' property income to a certain extent. As one of the pilot areas, Yiwu, Zhejiang, has designed a “separation of three rights” system for homestead land that provides a reference for reforms in other areas and provides certain experience for other areas to carry out work. Moreover, the obstacle that collective construction land cannot have the same rights and prices as state-owned construction land was removed in the 2019 amendment of the Land Management Law, which at the same time provided a guarantee for the integrated development of urban and rural areas. 2. The historical experience of my country’s land system reform and market-oriented reform 2.1 Always adhere to socialist public ownership and fully respect the dominant position of farmers. Ownership by the whole people and collective ownership are two forms of socialist public ownership in my country. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the party and the government began to explore land reform and established collective ownership of rural land as one of the rural economic systems through reforms such as agricultural cooperatives and people's communes. Protecting farmers' legitimate rights and interests is not only one of the bottom lines of land system reform, but also the starting point and foothold of land system reform. The household contract responsibility system, which originated in Xiaogang Village, Fengyang, Anhui Province, replaced the previous collective ownership and collective management forms with collective ownership and contract management. It achieved the separation of ownership and contract rights for the first time, making production The information is in the hands of farmers. The evolution and implementation of the land system over the past 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China have focused on giving full play to farmers' creative spirit, fully respecting farmers' dominant status, and seeking benefits for farmers. 2.2 Gradually establish a resource allocation method dominated by the government and the market. During the planned economy period, the allocation of all resources was monopolized by the government, and a unified and centralized management method was implemented. The government was the main body of reform. In the land reform movement in the early days of the founding of New China, the government distributed land occupied by feudal landlords to farmers free of charge; subsequent agricultural primary cooperatives, advanced cooperatives, and people's commune movements were all led by the government. Since the reform and opening up, the role of the market has gradually emerged, and the paid use of state-owned land has pioneered the transfer of land in a market manner. After entering the 21st century, there are more and more land transfer transactions through "bidding, auction and listing", and the role of the market in allocating resources has become more and more obvious. Especially after the establishment of a unified urban and rural construction land market in 2013, the scope of the land market has been further expanded. . Since the launch of the "three-land" reform pilot in 2015, each pilot area has explored corresponding successful experiences. More than 70 years of changes have shown that the "government-led, market-centered" resource allocation method is the fundamental way to manage land resources. 2.3 The rule of law is an important guarantee for the reform of the land system and marketization. Over the past 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the reform of the land system has been promoted through the mandatory role of law. A series of laws such as the Property Law, as well as other relevant administrative regulations and local regulations, have formed a relatively complete system of laws and regulations on land, providing important legal protection for the reform of the land system. Reform requires courage to practice. The "contract responsibility system" is the result of farmers' independent innovation, breaking through the restrictions of laws and regulations at the time and promoting economic development.

However, if we do not follow laws and regulations and carry out land system and market-oriented reforms, or if we take advantage of legal loopholes and skirt around the edges, it will lead to a series of serious consequences, resulting in chaotic land resource management and the inability to effectively protect farmers' rights and interests. Judging from more than 70 years of reform practice, the successful experiences of reforms such as the "contract system", "land transfer" and "separation of three powers" have been elevated to the level of laws and regulations. They are in line with our country's national conditions and the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. They are reforms The guarantee of continuous innovation. 3. Outlook 3.1 Properly handle the relationship between the market and the government and better play the decisive role of the market. In October 2020, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed my country's economic and social development goals during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period and a market economic system. More perfect, through continuous exploration, significant progress has been made in the reform of the property rights system and market-oriented allocation, and a high-standard market system has been built. Therefore, in the future, we should focus on research on the relationship between the government and the market, which should specifically include: research on the dynamic linkage of the relationship between the government and the market, the improvement of the land acquisition system and the collective commercial construction land user-market system, the construction of a dynamic model of land market transactions, and government macro-land regulation policy. 3.2 Deeply promote the construction of a high-standard urban and rural integrated market system and improve the level of land marketization. Since the country proposed the establishment of a unified urban and rural construction land market in 2013, after several years of pilot exploration, the Land Management Law revised in 2019 "" removes from the legal level the obstacle that rural collective construction land and state-owned construction land cannot have the same rights and prices. Moreover, in the "14th Five-Year Plan", promoting the market-oriented reform of factors is regarded as a separate chapter. Therefore, in the future, the construction of a high-standard urban-rural integrated land market system is one of the major goals of land market development. Specifically, it should include: land value-added income and distribution system, unified urban and rural construction land price calculation mechanism, urban construction land II The construction of a multi-level market system, a differentiated land market system and a land financial market. 3.3 Deepen the reform of the rural land system and promote comprehensive rural revitalization. The agricultural land system is related to the rights and interests of the majority of farmers. At the end of 2020, our country announced a comprehensive victory in poverty alleviation. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the focus is to comprehensively promote rural revitalization and reform of the agricultural land system. It will become an important starting point for rural revitalization. Therefore, the focus of future research should include: the diversified realization mechanism of the transfer of land management rights, the construction of a modern rural property rights system, the reform of rural collective construction land entering the market and the development of rural industries, and the reform of the income distribution of the land expropriation system.