Right to the Use of the State-owned Land in the Urban Areas

According to the Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Interim Regulations of the People’s Republic of China Concerning the Assignment and Transfer of the Right to the Use of the State-owned Land in the Urban Areas, China practices the socialist public ownership of land, namely the land ownership by the whole people and the land ownership by the laboring masses as collective. The land ownership by the whole people, that is the state, shall be exercised by the State Council on behalf of the state, and all the lands in urban areas are owned by the state. The assignment of the land use right refers to the act of the State as the owner of the land who, within the term of a certain number of years, assigns the right to the use of the land to land users, who shall in turn pay fees for the assignment thereof to the State.