Research On Rural Land Contract Management System And Determination Of Rights Based On Institutional Functions

The Land Contract System has played an important role in the economic development of rural areas in China.This rural land institution based on individual households has stimulated peasants'incentive in agricultural production for a long period of time.However,with socio-economic development and the improvement of the living standard of peasants,agricultural production has been unable to satisfy the needs of peasants' agricultural production and livelihood.Peasants began to turn to the non-agricultural economy,while at the same time rural land was increasingly being transferred.The commodity function of rural land gradually emerged.At the end of 20th century,the Chinese government started to implemented policies to channel the transfer of rural land.With the start of the 21st century,the national government actively explored methods of land transfer and how to maintain the stability of rural land institutions.It repeatedly emphasized the principle of commercially paid,yet voluntary transfer of rural land in national notices,thus stimulating the development of the rural society and economy.Based on the above,this paper takes the theory on credibility and institutional function as the basic theory and selected three towns in Xinle City of Hebei Province as a case to study the various functions of the Land Contract System over time,with particular reference to land titling as an institution.The study takes questionnaire as the main method to collected data,and 396 questionnaires are collected at last,of which 241 comes down to rural land titling.This study analyzed the functional change of land contracts from several aspects,such as peasants' perception of rural land rights,rural land transfer and land expropriation.The research showed that in the aspect of rural land rights,peasants' perception on the ownership of rural land was not clear.Although more than 50.0%of peasants believed that land titling is very important,only approximately 47.0%of peasants had land title,moreover,more than 95.0%of peasants had never used the land title.An informal list of distributed land(in Chinese:"Fendiqingdan")had actually become an important document to protect the rights and interests of peasants.It was also found that peasants' perception on the credibility of subcontracting,inheritance,and transfer were relatively high(most expressing agreement with these practices).Few villagers believed that they had the right to purchase or sell the rural land they used.From the current situation of land transfers,it can be as certained that the degree and frequency of land transfer is high,and a local land market among different rural collectives has gradually emerged.However,the contract of rural land transfer,the period and other aspects were not standardized,which might affect the operation of the rural land market in the long run.Land expropriation was an important aspect which was found to be harmful to peasants' rights and interests.In the analysis of land titling,several main points were covered,includingthe level of peasants' knowledge of titling;their perception on property rights changes during titling;and the government measures put forward to solve land expropriation and other problems.The results showed that in Xinle City,except Matoupu Town,almost all peasants in other towns investigated had heard of rural land titling.However,in Cheng'an Town only 17.1%knew that they would receive a land(lease)title,while in the towns of Matoupu and Dayue the proportion was lower than 10.0%.In all the three towns there were few peasants who were aware of the process and procedure of titling.After titling,peasants'perceptions on rural land ownership,and the sale or purchase of land use rights,had increased by 30.1%as compared to the percentage prior to titling.Peasants generally exhibited a relatively low degree of knowledge on titling due to the asymmetric information they obtained and due to ineffective government extension.In addition,concerning problems,such as land acquisition,relevant departments did not provide satisfactory solutions.This study maintains that titling is imperative for the sustainable development of the land contract system as its function is undergoing change;titling is then necessary to provide legal protection for farmers.Land titling should put issues such as land acquisition at an important position.In addition,it is necessary to improve and standardize the land transfer market and create a healthy environment for land transfers to promote economies-of-scale in the management of rural land and realize the sustainable use of rural land.