Transforming rural land ownership in southwest China: Local government, village collectives, and rural households in conflict and negotiation.

摘要

Based on the researcher's fieldwork from 2002 to 2004 in Fuyuan County, Yunnan Province, this dissertation examines how the rural land ownership in contemporary Southwest China has been contested and negotiated among the three major rural groups---the local government, village collectives, and rural households. Combining an analysis of power mechanisms with consideration of the cultural dimensions of property in China, the researcher conducted in-depth ethnographic research on three questions: First, how did programs initiated by the government such as the Land Reform, the Collectivization Campaign, and the Household Responsibility System interact with traditional norms ordering social life in rural communities and families to produce a unique rural collective land ownership through the People's Republic period? Second, during the post-Mao reform period, how does the rural land tenure system operate at the village community level? Specifically, how do the above rural groups share and compete for the essential component rights of land ownership---use, income, and transfer rights---in the actual processes of local agricultural production, income distribution, and the land market. Third, how is the current system changing due to the volatile power interplay among these rural groups?;By examining the above questions, the researcher concludes that the collective land ownership in rural China is a hybrid system, which has been strongly influenced by each of the above rural groups. The imprint of these groups has produced the key features that characterize the structure of the land ownership system, including (1) the "bounded collectivism" that has been shaped by the socialist movement and the identities of traditional residential communities, (2) the nationwide small family farms that have their own special resilience and constraints, and (3) a socialist state that insists on public ownership of the land while maintaining a gradual reform program. Moreover, the power interplay among the local government, village collectives, and rural households has caused frequent adjustments of how essential land rights are divided and shared among these groups. Understanding these complex features of land ownership in rural China can shed light on the fluidity, complexity, and historical contingency of the property concept across time and space.