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Knowing China's New Property Law

Second, understanding of the Property Law is further complicated because it incorporates many provisions intended to deal with unique Chinese characteristics that would never be mentioned in a pure, German civil law type code, including those provisions meant to address the Chinese government's monopoly on land ownership and those dealing with prohibitions on illegal land transfers and theft of government property.

Third, the Property Law was a hotly debated law, opposed by many elements of Chinese society. It is therefore intentionally vague on many important issues. This vagueness was the price paid to allow any form of Property Law to be adopted. The drafters frankly admit that if all the critical issues concerning property rights in China had been resolved in the Property Law, the law would never have been adopted. These issues are explicitly left for later resolution.

The Law is divided into Five Parts, 19 Divisions and 247 Sections. The Property Law covers both immovables (real property) and movables (personal property).

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