ABSTRACT
Land allocation has become a major issue in resource allocation in the post-reform village community. The communities guarantee food supply for their members by regulating land tenure in response to changes in the size of farmers' families and to labour migration. The land tenure and land-use system has always been controversial in both theoretical and practical discussions in China. Village committees do represent local farmers to some extent. In terms of their interests and behaviour, the members of a village committee are closer to farmers than are government officials, as they themselves are farmers. Many village communities close to cities promoted their villages' non-agricultural development in order to reduce underemployment and create an additional source of income for farm families. Other developing countries face similar policy options in development, and analysis of China's community-based development might be useful for them.
