The Direction of Rural Collective Property Rights System Reform under the New Normal

In order to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee, advance new urbanization and the reform of the rural collective property rights system, and safeguard and develop farmers' rights and interests, centering on the topics of "land issues in new urbanization, new exploratory cases in rural collective property rights system reform, and the theory and practice of reform of the rural 'three plots of land and one property'," more than 200 government officials, experts, scholars and entrepreneurs recently attended the "2014 New Urbanization Construction and National Suburban Annual Conference" and the "2014 Rural Collective Property Rights System Reform and Beijing Suburban Economic Annual Conference," where special discussions were held.

Xu Xiaoqing, President of the China Suburban Economy Research Association and former Director of the Rural Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council; Song Hongyuan, Vice President of the China Suburban Economy Research Association and Director of the Rural Economy Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture; Li Bingdi, Vice President of the China Suburban Economy Research Association and former Director of the Village and Town Department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development; and Jiao Shoutian, Executive Vice President of the China Suburban Economy Research Association and former Director of the Beijing Rural Economy Research Center, presided over the meeting. Yin Chengjie, Vice Chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress and Advisor to the China Suburban Economy Research Association, and Han Jun, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Rural Affairs, delivered keynote speeches entitled "Land System Reform in New Urbanization" and "The Significance of Currently Advancing Rural Collective Property Rights System Reform," respectively.

⟦NL> Participants exchanged views and held discussions on the practical experience of rural collective property rights system reform in Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, Guangxi and other places, related legal issues, and issues such as establishing a unified urban-rural construction land market and grassroots governance mechanisms in new urbanization.

Regarding land issues in new urbanization, participating delegates focused their discussions on the reform of establishing an integrated urban-rural construction land market. The main view held that the difficulty in establishing a unified urban-rural construction land market lies in the fact that government administrative departments assume the function of operating land. At present, the central government has made important arrangements for establishing a unified urban-rural construction land market and reforming the government land operation system; however, this involves supporting reforms in fiscal affairs, the household registration system, and the transformation of government functions. Experts suggested promptly revising relevant laws and regulations, studying and setting up a land property rights system under public ownership, exploring management measures for standardizing the collective construction land market, and levying real estate taxes, so as to open up collective construction land to the market, which should be treated differently and advanced step by step.

In his keynote speech, Yin Chengjie stated that China's economy has now entered the new normal, and urbanization has entered a stage of rapid development, but it still faces many prominent problems. He believes that new urbanization should adhere to "people-oriented, synchronized four modernizations, optimized layout, ecological civilization, cultural inheritance and market orientation." It is necessary to start with reform to solve land issues in new urbanization. Grasping the principle of "strictly controlling the total amount and adjusting and optimizing the structure," it is necessary to deepen the reform of the land management system, establish a regulatory mechanism for the scale and structure of urban land use, and improve the system for economical land use. It is necessary to deepen the reform of the rural land management system, accelerate land rights confirmation, and, on the basis of the strictest farmland protection system, advance the separation of three rights. It is necessary to advance the reform of the land expropriation system. At the same time, it is necessary to make good use of the results of rural land rights confirmation and further clarify the nature, powers and protection basis of agricultural land.

Regarding new exploratory cases in rural collective property rights system reform, delegates from various places provided rich practical experience. These included Shanghai's experience of "adhering to six principles and improving four mechanisms" in rural collective property rights system reform; Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province's three models of "dynamic adjustment, static solidification, and separation of politics from economics" and three types of "stock conversion into shares, asset protection, and incremental share expansion" in rural collective property rights system reform; and Jiyuan City, Henan Province's practice of rural property rights system reform focusing on "six rights, two shares, two reforms, and two constructions," among others.

Han Jun stated that the reform of the rural collective property rights system concerns farmers' vital interests and the future direction of the rural basic management system. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, rural reform, while grasping its direction, has been accelerating, and various reform systems have been formulated and introduced in rapid succession. He believes that to better guide the reform of the collective property rights system, it is necessary to further clarify the subject of collective land property rights from the perspective of membership rights, to further confirm and expand rights and return rights to the people on the basis of respecting farmers' wishes, to further advance the separation of politics from economics, and to cautiously explore the linkage mechanism between the rural collective property rights system and the market.

Regarding the theory and practice of reform of the rural "three plots of land and one property," participating delegates introduced the "plant one plot of land, cultivate one ridge" intensive farming model of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, conducted in-depth discussions on the legal issues faced by the reform of the rural "three plots of land and one property," the problem of a grassroots governance structure that does not separate politics from economics, and the problem of collective asset management, and put forward suggestions such as promptly formulating the "Rural Collective Economic Organization Law" or related regulations, promoting the market-oriented process of rural collective asset management against the background of large-scale asset management, and specific operational plans encountered in reform.

Participating delegates believed that rural areas in developed regions are the forefront of theory and practice in rural reform during the process of new urbanization, and that strengthening the operation and management of the rural collective "three plots of land and one property" is an important fulcrum for protecting and realizing farmers' rights and interests during urbanization. Since reform and opening up, with the rapid advancement of urbanization, suburban rural areas have pioneered trials in collective property rights system reform, entry of collective land into the market, and collective asset management, achieving many breakthroughs and forming a large amount of practical reform experience. However, against the background of comprehensively deepening reform, new urbanization and governing the country according to law, the reform of the suburban rural collective property rights system and the effective operation and management of the "three plots of land and one property" still have a long way to go. It is necessary, through deepening reform, to explore effective ways to realize the rural collective economy and safeguard farmers' rights and interests. The reform of the collective property rights system should focus on studying and solving issues such as the ownership of rural collective property rights, the definition of collective membership rights, the operating mechanism of collective assets, and the improvement of the corporate governance structure at the grassroots level. The market-oriented reform of establishing a unified urban-rural construction land market in the process of new urbanization should promptly advance preparations for revising relevant laws, study and set up a land property rights system under public ownership, and accelerate related supporting reforms such as fiscal affairs, the household registration system, and the transformation of government functions.

This conference gathered a large number of typical cases and further conducted deep discussions at the legal level. The conference discussions not only reflected the achievements currently made in China's rural collective property rights system reform, but also deepened understanding of issues such as reform of collective land entry into the market and collective asset management in the process of urbanization, and put forward specific measures and paths for further deepening reform of the rural "three plots of land and one property," providing important ideas for theoretical research and practical exploration of rural reform in China.