20th October 08

International Herald Tribune

Chinese economists hope land reform will lead to larger farms

Deng's reforms broke up the collective use, if not ownership, of land and created a household registration system that assigned land to individual families to use as they saw fit. Those reforms enabled farm incomes to rise sharply during the early 1980s, even as city dwellers suffered. But the later creation of an urban real estate market saw an explosion of wealth in the cities that contributed to a sharp income divide between increasingly affluent city dwellers and impoverished peasants. In recent years, rural protests have become increasingly common as disgruntled farmers have demonstrated against illegal land grabs or corrupt local officials. At the same time, tens of millions of farmers have flocked to cities in search of work, leaving plots of land to be tended by their elderly parents.

China enacts major land-use reform

Following days of uncertainty, the ruling Communist Party announced a rural reform policy Sunday that for the first time would allow farmers to lease or transfer land-use rights, a step that advocates say would bolster lagging incomes in the Chinese countryside. The new policy, announced by Chinese state media, marks a major economic reform and is also rich in historical resonance, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the land reforms by Deng Xiaoping, which were considered the first critical steps in the policies that have fueled China's rapid economic growth.

China tightens grip on Muslims in Xinjiang

To be a practicing Muslim in the vast autonomous region of northwestern China called Xinjiang is to live under an intricate series of laws and regulations intended to control the spread and practice of Islam, the predominant religion among the Uighurs, a Turkic people uneasy with Chinese rule.

Sydney Morning Herald

China says economic growth to decline

China's Cabinet said on Sunday the country's economy can weather the effects of the global financial turmoil, but growth will decline as the expansion of business profits and public revenue slows. The State Council said in a statement at the end of an executive meeting led by Premier Wen Jiabao that the turmoil and economic instability will have a "gradual" effect on the country.It said China's economic growth will slow along with corporate profits and public revenue, and as capital markets continue to fluctuate.