Danwei translates an interview with Yu Jianrong, director of the Rural Development Institute’s Social Issues Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, about the proposed reforms in land ownership:
Yu spoke to Southern Metropolis Weekly about the new policies on rural land rights that were proposed at the party congress sessions earlier this month. In his view, the measures do little to change the current situation, at least as it exists in the law.
Instead, they have symbolic value as a sign that the government is not ignoring the rights of rural residents. By reaffirming farmers’ land use rights and their freedom to both transfer and retain those rights, the document acts as a reminder to local government officials not to pressure farmers into selling off their rights (something that Yu has repeatedly stressed in previous articles).
