After protests, China restricts seizure of land for redevelopment

BEIJING -- China on Friday unveiled a shake-up of the way land is seized for redevelopment after a public outcry over the violent tactics used by some developers and a rare public campaign by leading academics.

The State Council published proposed regulations that would increase compensation for relocation, make it easier for residents of houses marked for redevelopment to take legal action, and limit conflicts during demolitions.

Land seizures over the past decade have been central to the rapid modernization of hundreds of Chinese cities, which in turn has been one of the main drivers of the nation's economic growth. But they also have been the source of often-violent conflicts, especially in the past year, as huge volumes of stimulus funds have gone into building projects.

Under the proposed guidelines, residents would receive their property's market value if it were redeveloped. Relocation teams would be barred from cutting off water and power to residents resisting eviction. The rules also say houses cannot be demolished if residents have a pending lawsuit challenging an eviction.

Analysts welcomed the regulations but said rigorous implementation would be crucial.

A Chinese academic who specializes in land issues but spoke only on the condition of anonymity said, "The new rules say that violence cannot be used to force people to relocate, but it is already against the law to use violence and that has not stopped people before."

Tang Fuzhen, a 47-year-old woman in the southwestern city of Chengdu, took her life in November by setting herself on fire while a gang of men was trying to evict her family. She had doused herself with gasoline and threatened to ignite herself if the gang did not stop beating her family during the episode.

The incident was filmed and became a national scandal. Similar incidents have occurred elsewhere. The public outcry prompted five leading legal scholars to publish an open letter in December saying that land seizure regulations were in breach of the constitution and a landmark property law passed in 2007.

They said it was too easy for local governments to decide urban land could be seized for redevelopment. And while it is the government's responsibility to take care of demolition and negotiate compensation with residents, they said that in reality this was often done by developers and demolition companies.

In recent years, developers have been accused of hiring thugs to bully reluctant residents out of their homes.

-- Financial Times