Based on field data collected in Fuyuan County, Yunnan Province since 2002, this in-depth ethnography provides a comprehensive analysis of the formation, operation, and evolvement of the current rural collective land ownership system in China. The author argues that the current rural land ownership in China is not a static system imposed by the state from above, but a hybrid resulting from the contestation among the three major rural alignments—local governments, village communities, and rural households. This property regime defies simplistic labels such as “socialism,” “postsocialism,” or “c ... More

Based on field data collected in Fuyuan County, Yunnan Province since 2002, this in-depth ethnography provides a comprehensive analysis of the formation, operation, and evolvement of the current rural collective land ownership system in China. The author argues that the current rural land ownership in China is not a static system imposed by the state from above, but a hybrid resulting from the contestation among the three major rural alignments—local governments, village communities, and rural households. This property regime defies simplistic labels such as “socialism,” “postsocialism,” or “capitalism.” Major issues pursued by the book include: (1) the long overlooked role played by rural communities in forming the current land property regime. Using the concept of “bounded collectivism,” the book sheds light on the contestation between the Chinese state aiming to establish collective land ownership and rural communities seeking exclusive control over land resources within their traditional borders; (2) how family-centered values and practices have continued to shape state policies regarding land use and management; (3) how the above rural alignments compete for land rights in agricultural production and the land market in the post-Mao period, causing constant changes in the distribution of land rights among these alignments.