Land has always been the focus of public debates among scholars, policy makers and local populations due to its scarcity in face of population explosion and rapid urban growth. This is particularly so in the case of China. In order to support an unprecedented rate of urbanization, the institutional mechanism of land expropriation has been widely adopted by the government of the People's Republic of China over the last three decades. However, the effect of this institutional mechanism in rural China has become increasingly controversial. On one side, it is one of the most powerful tools to assemble land for urban development. Moreover, by means of land expropriation and land conveyance, local governments are capable of collecting substantial revenues to fund urban development. On the other side, the exclusive power of local governments over land expropriation, which is derived from the land management system, makes it possible for local governments to manipulate the price at which land is taken from farmers. In practice, local governments expropriate suburban or rural land at a low price and then lease it at a much higher price in land market. Therefore, inequitable compensation for land expropriation has led to numerous conflicts and social tensions between local governments and land-loss farmers. The issue of land expropriation and compensation has been identified as one of most primary sources of social discontents and complaints. Even though a growing number of studies have been conducted on the urbanization and regional development in China, a thorough cause–effect elaboration of the issue of land expropriation and compensation in rural China has rarely been carried out within the political regime. This thesis analyzes the institutional framework of land expropriation and compensation in rural China from the perspectives of property rights and land management system. In addition, it discloses the opportunities for Chinese legal system to solve this issue by borrowing legal norms, wisdoms and experience from other jurisdiction, such as the United States and Germany. Furthermore, it aims to improve and reconstruct the legal framework of compensation by elaborating the concept of long-term reciprocity. Three primary questions would be elaborated in this thesis. Is the compensation for land expropriation in rural China equitable? If the compensation is not equitable, how has such an inequity been caused? And most importantly, how to improve the compensability of land expropriation? / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In 2009, the central Chinese government invested 4000 billion into the Chinese economy, real estate industry expanded and the housing price increased very fast afterwards. In the construction of housing, demand of land is huge. One source of land is resumption of old area and land. Land users or owners had much conflict with government and real estate developers in land resumption and displacement issue in the past few years. This study investigates the difference of land resumption and displacement method between Hong Kong and Shanghai. This can provide information for Shanghai government to evaluate its policy and take Hong Kong as a good reference. It is because there were many problems and conflicts like imbalance of interest sharing between land users and government and real estate developers that were caused by unfair land resumption and displacement regulations and procedures. In the beginning, concepts of property rights, rent seeking, eminent domain in United States are investigated. Also Hong Kong land tenure system, letter A/B, and situation in Shanghai are included. This shows the property rights are mature in United States and Hong Kong. Shanghai is comparatively weak in this concept. In the eminent domain concept, United States and Hong Kong are fully developed, but it is still weak in Shanghai. In the methodology, I compare the land resumption and displacement rules and regulations of Hong Kong and Shanghai. In Hong Kong, those are Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance, Lands Resumption Ordinance. While in Shanghai, they are Shanghai city land displacement housing management method, Urban Buildings Demolition Relocation Administration Regulations. By the results, we can see the system in Hong Kong is much more mature and complicate than that of Shanghai. Shanghai should consider the fairness and justice concept of Hong Kong land resumption and displacement regulations to modify its regulations. Example is like involving more parties in the land resumption procedure to monitor each other and minimize the chance of interest of conflict. At last, some suggestions are made to Shanghai government. One is law court should be only responsible for judgment, while execution is done by other party. Although there are some limitations of this study like the rapid changing of land resumption and displacement regulations in Shanghai, this study still provide some valuable information for the development of real estate industry in China. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Real Estate and Construction

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Geography / Master / Master of Geographic Information System

研究以湖南省松糖事件为例，分析中国农民的抗征地对中央政府信任的影响。研究认为，征地形式、上访过程获取的信息及其上访结果都会影响对中央的信任水平。具体来说，研究有三个主要观点：第一，相比公共项目征地、参与式征地和不威胁生存安全的征地，商业项目征地、命令式征地以及威胁生存安全的征地形式会更容易导致上访。在这些征地中，抗争者提出的诉求由于超越了相关的政策法律因此很难得到地方政府的满足。第二，上访过程中农民对中央信任的变化分为三个阶段：首先，抗争者将中央与其以下政府区别开来，并对中央保持着高水平的信任；接着，多次的进京上访使抗争者获取了有关中央的信息，包括中央已经了解了他们的问题并且这些问题值得重视；最后，失败的抗争结果导致对中央能力和意图的信任同时下降。第三，对中央信任的下降并不一定会导致公民选举要求的提出，这是因为传统的政治文化和无效的村庄选举使农民的政治效能感维持在低水平。 / Drawing on the data from the Song-tang incident in Hunan province, the research examines the influences of resistance to land expropriation in rural China on political trust in the central government. The study argues that forms of land expropriation, information gained through petitioning and outcomes of petitioning have influences on trust in the center. Specifically, there are three main arguments. Firstly, compared with land expropriation for public use, in participatory manners, and without negative influences on living security, land expropriation for commercial use, in imperative manners, and with negative influences on living security is more likely to cause petitioning. In the three forms of land expropriation, claims are hardly satisfied by local governments since they have surpassed the state rules. Secondly, during petitioning trust in the center changes in three phases: at the beginning, resisters distinguish the center from lower-level governments and retain high-level trust in the center. Secondly, activists gain increasing information about the center during times of petitioning to Beijing. They realize that the center has known their grievances, which are also worth its attention. Finally, failure of resistances results in decline of trust in the center’s capacity as well as trust in its commitment. Thirdly, the declined trust in the center does not necessarily imply the demand for popular elections. Due to traditional political culture and ineffective village elections, political efficacy of the farmers remains at a low level. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 劉靜平. / Parallel title from English abstract. / Thesis (M.Phil.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-65). / Abstracts also in English. / Liu Jingping.

資本全球擴展至今已經令我們的時代傷痕累累，各種各樣的社會運動應運而生，試圖突破現局。香港近年幾起以空間為本位的社會運動都甚為引人注目，其中利東街社區運動可謂開風氣之先，草擬了香港首份民間規劃方案──啞鈴方案，此後受拆遷影響的社區除了選擇賠償和安置以外，還可以選擇集體抗爭爭取民間規劃。提出了香港首份民間規劃劃方案固然意義重大，不過利東街社區運動留給我們遠不止於此。本論文從頭梳理一遍利東街社區運動的經驗，由一九九八年土地發展公司正式宣佈重建利東街，至市區重建局接手後利東街街坊成立H15重建關注組、提出爭取賠償安置以外的訴求、及後草擬啞鈴方案爭取落實以人為本的規劃。雖然啞鈴方案最後不獲局方接受，無法落實，卻為社區所可以有的政治意義帶來豐富的內容。本論文透過整理利東街社區運動的經驗，歸納並提出社區在資本主義全球化下所能夠展現出來的政治意義。 / The global expansion of capital has brought to our contemporaries wounds and scars, leading thereby to social movements of all types. In the recent years in Honk Kong, we have witnessed many social movements concerned with spatial issues, among them some are more eye-catching while some of them not. Lee Tung Street community movement, among all the spatially minded social movements, is one with exceptional importance. It has marked a new beginning for other community movements by proposing the first ever community-based redevelopment plan ──Dumbbell Proposal. Although the Dumbbell was rejected in the end despite untiring efforts from the Lee Tung Street community and supports from various public ranks, Lee Tung Street community movement has left us with an enriched concept of "community", which is filled with political meanings, and potentials to fight the hegemonic capitalist globality. This thesis will consolidate experiences in different stages of Lee Tung Street community movement, from the time when Land Development Company first announced the redevelopment project, to the period when the community organized themselves into a group called H15 concern group which launched the famous Dumbbell Proposal. From these events, I will extract and explain the political meanings of "community", which paves a way for alternatives in our globalized society. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 陳倩玉. / Parallel title from English abstract. / Thesis (M.Phil.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-113). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chen Qianyu.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Government and Public Administration