PROTECTING PRIVATE PROPERTY IN CHINA - WHOSE PROPERTY?

The importance of protecting private property in China has now ascended to the same level as that of safeguarding public assets which has traditionally been a top priority for socialist nations. This article will firstly and heavily expound on the rationale behind the availability and at certain times the marginalisation of protecting private property de jure and de facto during some momentous stages in modern Chinese history. It will then touch on a lingering problem relevant to today’s Chinese society arising from the drainage of state assets, a phenomenon having occurred in the transformation process of China’s economic regimes over the most recent decades. It finally argues that while protecting the right to lawful private property is not a matter in dispute, pursuing the protection of private property shall in no way lead to the weakening of sticking to the core value of justice and egalitarianism, a key to ensuring a sound socialist institution.