ABSTRACT
Much commentary on the unequal treatment of rural residents in China has focused on the role of local government in land requisitioning. The dependence of city, county and township governments on off-budget revenue acquired by the expropriation and sale of rural land gives rise to collusion between government and property developers, with farmers receiving paltry compensation (Y. Wu 2004; Gong 2006; F. Zhou 2007; R. Wu 2008). The Finance Ministry reported that in 2009, more than 1.4 trillion yuan was raised in land conveyancing fees (tudi churang shouru) (see Z. Liu 2010; Ministry of Finance 2010b). In some localities these fees accounted for more than 60 per cent of off-budget revenue. To put the magnitude of this revenue windfall in perspective, in 2009 total national revenue collected was 5.96 trillion yuan (Ministry of Finance 2010a). Little is directed towards agriculture or rural areas, with a large portion (27.1 per cent) allocated to urban construction projects. 1
