The Politics of Land Use Conversion in China: Case Study of a Guangdong County

Abstract

The conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses in China has often been attributed to the demand for land arising from a larger urban population. With a focus on Guangdong and Sihui county, this study explains land use conversion from an alternative perspective: by looking at the supply of agricultural land for conversion and what determines this supply. It gives precedence to the role of the central actor in the process, i.e. local officials, and suggests that the extent to which agricultural land is converted for non-agricultural purposes is determined by an array of structural, institutional and agential factors, including the fiscal and land resources available to local officials, the institutional environment that shapes their goals and preferences, and macro-processes which influence their decision. The lessons from land use conversion in Sihui are also extended to China as a whole.