The FT reports that the CCP is "expected to enshrine the rights of rural citizens to transfer or rent their 30-year land leases to other individuals or companies and possibly allow that land to be used for collateral to access loans."
Such a step would horrify remaining Maoists, of course, but it would also allay the outrage that is causing tens of thousands of demonstrations, as land is summarily taken from farmers and put to new uses, with minimal compensation.
Communist theory is that the land belongs to the people, so the farmer has no right to it anyway and cannot complain when its use is changed. But the farmers don't see it that way, and what they do see is Party officials getting paid by industrial and real estate developers for enabling the transition. When people talk of "corruption" in China, to a large extent they are talking about these payments to officials for shifts in land use.
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