Rural land policies tested in China´s quake zone

Attracting urban investors will help solve the funding problem, he says. "But there were many policy restrictions when we initiated this practice to help the quake-hit farmers rebuild their homes."

Under China's Land Administration Law, rural collective land use rights cannot be sold, transferred or leased for non-rural use.

"This means that the law does not forbid the transfer of rural collective construction land use right for tourism or service except property development," Luo says.

Since rural housing land use rights can only be transferred within the village collective, the village collective must redesignate the part of the rural housing land agreed by farmers and investors as rural collective construction land, making it transferable for investors, Luo says.

Individual investors or companies can use the land to run service businesses such as guesthouses or restaurants.

"Through this process, rural housing land becomes part of collective construction land which can be transferred legally," says Wu Jianling, of Chengdu University's Urban and Rural Development Center.

Editor:Liu Anqi