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February 28, 2007
china leadership monitor » 2007 no. 20 » economic policy

The Assertive Center: Beijing Moves Against Local Government Control of Land

by Barry Naughton

Over the past year there have been numerous signs of an increasingly assertive central government in China. Now, Beijing has promulgated a series of measures that aim to change dramatically the way urban land markets work, curtailing local government discretion, and greatly increasing central government oversight. These measures strike directly at the most important single source of power and income for local government officials. Combined with the fall of Shanghai Party secretary Chen Liangyu, these actions indicate a significant shift in the balance of political power in China away from local governments and toward the center.

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