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4. Funded Research Projects

route that spans China’s Hexi Corridor in the Northwest through Central Asia and

the Middle East to Europe.

4.7 From Villagers to Urban Residents — A study of rural

urbanization and land development in Ningxia (on-
going project)

Principal Investigator: Prof. Li Si-ming
Director of LEWI, Convenor of Urbanization and

Mobility Working Group of LEWI and
Chair Professor of Geography

(original principle investigator was Prof. Song Jing,
former Research Assistant Professor of HKBU)

Co-investigator: Prof. Song Jing
Assistant Professor of Gender Studies Programme,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Source of Funding: GRF, RGC, HK
Amount Awarded: HKD412,596

Brief Introduction:

Despite China’s promotion of the free market since 1978, the land property

system remains ambiguous and split between urban and rural areas, and
villagers have collective claim to the use of the land for residential, farming, and

other related purposes. The new national strategy to develop Western China has
led to revisited arguments on how to compensate and relocate villagers upon

land expropriation. When rural land was subsumed within the limits of the city,
former villagers became urban residents, but their rights and entitlements were
to be defined in a new backdrop of property (re)distribution and community

rebuilding.

From the top-down zoning perspectives, local governments have multiple goals
in rehousing arrangements, such as to construct the “harmonious society”, to “cool

down” the housing market, and to balance the development of affordable and
expensive housing. Developers participated in the zoning practice as the partner

of local governments to invoke the requisition process, to overcome the problem
of fragmented property rights, and to make a deal with a county or village.

31 HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY | David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies