China is making new progress in revising its Land Administration Law. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress is set to deliberate on proposed amendments to the Land Administration Law…during its seventh meeting from Dec. 23-29…The main focuses are trial reforms in the areas of rural land expropriation, the marketization of rural collective construction land, and the homestead land system — the three areas where the contradictions of China’s land management system are increasingly concentrated…

…The [existing] Land Administration Law, which was first promulgated in 1986…states that there should be no transfer or leasing of the right to use land collectively owned by farmers. Collective land can enter the market as land for construction only if it is converted into state-owned land through expropriation, the law says. When that happens, the government is required to take charge of supply. Local governments thus gain a monopoly over the primary land market and are able to “fix” the price of land during expropriation. This system has long been criticized for allowing undercompensation for expropriated land, and for the unfair distribution of gains from land appreciation.

…[C]ontradictions caused or reflected by land issues are becoming increasingly acute...rural collective construction land is currently prevented from entering the market at the same price as state-owned construction land; usufructuary rights for homesteads have not been fully put into place; and the mechanism for distributing income from land appreciation has major flaws. The situation has…seriously infringes directly on farmers’ rights and interests…

…Incidents like reckless land expropriation or deadly demolition disputes reflect the poor state of rural land rights…The proposed revision to the law aims to narrow the scope of land acquisition, standardize acquisition procedures, and clarify the scope of public interest — a commendable effort. However…there still needs to be a systematic way to protect the livelihoods and living standards of farmers whose land has been expropriated…