Defining property rights over rural land in peri-urban China - A case study of Beiqijia Town, Beijing

Abstract

Chinese cities have been experiencing urban expansion, with the fringe areas as the most dynamic and featuring the peri-urban phenomenon. Due to the rural-urban dichotomy of land, development in peri-urban areas especially involves land ownership and use right transfer issue. This research carries out an empirical investigation on the land development process of a case study area, and finds that ambiguity in property rights is the driving force of rapid peri-urbanization. It is revealed that most of development projects are informal in the sense that they lack appropriate approval for rural-urban land conversion. The rural land development was structured by the ambiguous legal ownership by the rural collectives, weak land use rights, indetermination of inter-government power allocation as well as the evolution of the property rights structures. The patterns of land development and transfer are consistent with the government power reshuffle and movement of de facto land conversion approval authority.