How Land Grabs are Made Constitutional in China

<div> This chapter discusses the constitutional origin of land grab in China. It will first review the </div> <div> history of land ownership and focus on the question whether the sudden categorization of urban land as ‘state-owned’ constitute a wholesale confiscation by Article 10 of the Constitution enacted in 1982. It then moves to discuss the serious consequences of compensation below the market value standard, which has led to many conflicts and tragedies in China, epitomized in the self-immolation of Tang Fu-zhen at the end of December 2009. The tragedy urged the State Council to promulgate a new Taking and Compensation Regulation in 2011. The new regulation was an improvement over the previous one as applied to the urban land and properties, but the problems with respect to taking of rural land remain unresolved. The chapter discusses next the root causes of land grab in China, and ends with a proposal for re-interpreting Article 10 of the Constitution in order to make it consistent with the international standards and practices. </div>