Land Policy and Urbanization in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

Land leasing provides financial support for the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) urbanization. This chapter explores the relationship between land policies and urbanization in the PRC. In particular, it explores the relationship between urbanization and land leasing. It finds that the urbanization rate and the land-leasing revenue are positively related. Land leasing provides financial support for PRC’s urbanization, but damages the interests of landless peasants. Especially in the west, population urbanization lags behind land urbanization, resulting in much higher land and house prices in the east than those in inland PRC. Current land and household registration policies hinder the mobility of production factors, including construction land and the labour force, and distort the process of urbanization and industrialization. The land policy should be revised such that the market determines the allocation of land resources, which will create a unified, competitive urban–rural land market.