Dispossession for Development? The Impact of Land Expropriation on Peasant Livelihoods in Rural China

Land expropriation has been a major point of contention in contemporary rural China. However, there has been little systematic research on its livelihood impact on rural villagers, especially after more pro-rural policies were in place since the mid-2010s. This study uses a mixed method approach to explore the livelihood outcomes of land expropriation in rural China since 2010, in terms of household income, expenditure, and both migrant and local employment opportunities. It finds that overall, land expropriation did not harm villagers' livelihood conditions, thanks to compensation from the government, as well as wage income for households with migrant workers. Households without migrant workers could resort to local informal work such as construction, which was created by urbanization and industrialization of the area. Moreover, a large number of rural households had come to wish for land expropriation as an opportunity to gain assets and rental income. Contrary to the dispossession narrative dominant in the literature, which predicts land expropriation to have a negative impact on rural livelihoods by dispossessing villagers of their means of production, these findings suggest that the impact is more complicated, depending on the extent of villagers' previous dependence on land, as well as government policies that could help villagers move off land. Even though villagers are dispossessed of a source of subsistence, developmental outcomes can follow, at least from the point of view of villagers, as they engage in a wider range of livelihood strategies: a "dispossession for development".土地徵收在現代中國農村已激起極大爭議。然而，現存少有關於土地徵收對農民生計影響的系統性研究，尤其是在利好的三農政策于近年出臺之後。本研究集合定量和定性的研究方法，以探究2010年之後徵地對中國農民生計的影響，具體關注農村家庭的收入、支出，以及本地和外出的工作機會。研究發現，總得來説，徵地并沒有損害農民的生計，因爲政府有給失地農民賠償。同時，有外出打工人員的家庭有工資收入維持生計。沒有外出打工人員的家庭則可以在本地打零工，例如成爲因本地城市化和工業化而愈發需要的建築工。不僅如此，很多農村家庭盼望徵地能爲他們爭取獲得財產和租金的機會。這些研究發現和徵地研究中主流的剝奪理論相左。剝奪理論預測徵地因剝奪農民的生產資料而對他們的生計有負面影響。相反的，本研究發現徵地對農民生計的影響更爲複雜，與農民之前對土地的依賴性相關，且與政府對農民生計保護的政策相關。即便徵地剝奪了農民的基本生計來源，它的後果可能是有助於發展的：從農民的角度來説，失去土地能換來更多種生計策略。GU, Guolin.M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2021.Includes bibliographical references (leaves )Abstracts in English and Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on ...