China new reform

These days, in China, a rural reform is taking place. Part of this rural reform is a land reform which is centered around two major changes : allowing peasants to engage in th eunrestricted trade, purchase and sale of land-use contact, and extending those contratcs to 70 years from 30 years.
For the moment, it seems that the leaders are in disgreement on some aspects of this policy. In an official communiqué after the Communist Party's annual four day planning session, they just mentionned that the party was adopting a rural reform policy that would double the per capita disposable income of farmers by 2020. The details of this reform which could take into acount the land reform will be unveiled in two weeks, according to the head of the China research division for the Rural development Institute, or in March after the approval of the National People's Congress.

A village in Anhui Province, has already begun aplying this rural policy from 1978, for an experiment. The farmers of Xiaogang village began cultivating their own plots of land. Nowadays, some families have rented a total of 44 acres of land to a Shangai company. This is hoped to be a model for the accomplishments of the land reform policy.

This could be the biggest economic reform and mark a signifiant turn in Chinese economic policy. It would put an end to the collective ownership and state control that was instaured after the revoluition in 1949.

The causes could be the government worrying about the prospect of a deep recession in leading export market as well as the thousands of riots and protest in rural areas each year, which might be the biggest source of social unrest in China. If a market is developed for farmers, peasants could gain a new source of cash incom that could help to revitalize the economy by pushing peasants to product more. Some economists say that would lead to more efficient land use and allow much larger farms to establish. Moreover, this could help stabilize the inequalities between the cities and the rural zones. China is one of the starkest income gaps in the world.

But this is a delicate issue because private ownership of land is not allowed under the Constitution. Many parti traditionalists are strongly in favor of collective land ownership. They argue the China’s economy is still not robust enough to face this reform. Another point which is discussed is whether land contracts should be extended to 70 years wich would give farmers more security and presumably increase the value of their land-use rights.

We can notice that an big economic reform has already been done in the end of the 70°s, by Deng Xiaoping. The Communist party lost a part of his governmental control over citizens’ personal lives and many peasants received land leases. This led to the mixed economy and the « market socialism ». The actual government of China might want to continue an economic policy which has been beginning 30 years ago.

But the question could be : Is China going to become a capitalist country ? and if doesn’t how could it manage to be in th esame time socialist in politic and capitalist in economy ?