Haven't the Chinese heard about Kelo?
From tomorrow's Financial Times:
The reform would introduce a "market mechanism" for compensation payments for farmland seized for commercial use, said Du Ying, a deputy minister of China's powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Mr Du gave few details of the reform plan and no timetable for its implementation, which could prove far from straightforward.
But market-based compensation would bring potentially dramatic benefits to rural residents whose land is taken over for use in China's fast-expanding cities, towns and industrial zones.
It could also help to prevent land disputes between rural residents and local governments, which have become a significant source of social tension and violent protest in recent years.
"If the land is being requisitioned for use for the public good, then there must be a raised standard for compensation. If it is to be used commercially, then the market mechanism must be introduced," he said, without elaborating.
Wu Chongqing, a expert on rural issues at the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, said it was the first time the government had offered the prospect of different handling of land for public and commercial use.
"This kind of differentiation is extremely significant for China," Mr Wu said. "The significance lies in raising the compensation for farmers' requisitioned land."
However, Mr Wu warned that if both public use and commercial requisition orders continued to be the preserve of local governments, it would remain very difficult for farmers to protect their land.