Chinese private property

On Friday, China's National People's Congress approved the Property Law with an overwhelming majority of 2,799 of the 2,899 delegates. In some press reports abroad it was announced that China was for the first time protecting private property. Those who wrote this don't know what they are talking about... The Chinese Constitution says that private property is inviolable, although public property still has a higher status.

Promulgation of the law is important for peasants and peddlers who in theory should receive better protection of their property. Peasants who are chased of their land to build an industrial park can now turn to the law. Although they don't own the land, they should receive compensation because they held the right to work on the land. Street peddlers who illegally sell stuff without a proper license may still be fined, but their goods may no longer be confiscated. Also city dwellers whose homes are demolished to make way for a property development should receive better protection.

Therefore, the law does not only protect private enterprises, but can also be used by citizens against illegal expropriation of their possessions. The claim that the law is the last nail in the coffin of Chinese socialism is besides the point. The Chinese Communist Party has decided to allow private property of the means of production. That is a political decision. Enacting a law to protect this and other kinds of private property is only codifying an existing situation. Laws follow societal changes, they can never force them to happen.

Of course it remains to be seen how courts across the land will implement the property law and if it is not properly applied, how plaintiffs will receive redress.