Driving factors behind farmers’ preferences for choosing Xinfang system as land dispute settlement body

Xiangzhuo Wang, Nor Ashikin Mohamed Yusof, Siti Hasliah Salleh

Article ID: 2944
Vol 8, Issue 3, 2024

VIEWS - 647 (Abstract) 204 (PDF)

Abstract


This study offers a focused examination on Xinfang system, China’s unique mechanism particularly on its ability and efficacy in mediating land disputes between farmers and governmental bodies for social governance purposes. Based on interviews with 10 farmers, the study elucidates the system has low entry barriers and user-friendly, thus fast becoming the preferred system option when dealing with land conflicts. Xinfang facilitates direct communication between farmers and government officials, thereby in line with the sociocultural conventions of the rural populace. The study also highlights several constraints. While the Xinfang system employs a multifaceted approach to conflict resolution, including negotiation and grassroots governmental intervention, it lacks legislative power and institutional authority that are required for effective management of more complex or multi-stakeholder land disputes. The study advocates for a comprehensive reassessment and subsequent reform of the Xinfang system, focusing particularly on its mechanisms and procedures for dispute resolution. Such reforms are not merely instrumental for the more robust safeguarding of farmers’ land rights, but also for enhancing the overall integrity and public trust in China’s legal and administrative frameworks.


Keywords


Xinfang system; land acquisition disputes; conflict resolution; farmer preferences

Full Text:

PDF


References


Ali, A. Md., & Yusof, H. (2011). Quality in Qualitative Studies: The Case of Validity, Reliability and Generalizability. Issues In Social and Environmental Accounting, 5(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.22164/isea.v5i1.59

Bofeng, C. (2004). Excessive Litigation, Xinfang and Legal Traditions of New China. Peking University Law Journal.

Bradley-Storey, L. (2011). The Political Dynamics and Implications of Rights Articulation in China’s Online Forums: The Case of Xinfang. APSA 2012 Annual Meeting Paper.

Bradley-Storey, L. (2012). Petitioners and the State: Xinfang S Paradoxical Role in Managing State-Society Relations in China.

Bruckner, M. (2008). The paradox of social instability in China and the role of the Xinfang system. Cambridge Student L. Rev. Available online: https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/camslr4§ion=13 (accessed on 11 August 2023).

Cai, K. (2012). China’s Xinfang System: History, Institution and Practice: Harvard Law School.

Chen, L. (2020). China’s Administrative Reconsideration and Administrative Litigation Cohesion Mechanism: francis-press.com.

Fenn, P., Lowe, D., & Speck, C. (1997). Conflict and dispute in construction. Construction Management and Economics, 15(6), 513–518. https://doi.org/10.1080/014461997372719

Göbel, C. (2018). The Chinese Petitioning System (Xinfang): asianlaw.univie.ac.at.

Guo, L. (2022). Mediation of Land Disputes and Institutional Improvement in the Context of Rural Revitalization. Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 23-30. https://doi.org/10.19648/j.cnki.jhustss1980.2022.04.04

He, X. (2014). Administrative Reconsideration’s Erosion of Administrative Litigation in China. The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law, 2(2), 252–269. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjcl/cxu008

Heurlin, C., & Whiting, S. (2007). Villagers against the state: the politics of land disputes,” academia.edu.

Hong, K., Zou, Y., Zhu, M., & Zhang, Y. (2021). A Game Analysis of Farmland Expropriation Conflict in China under Multi-Dimensional Preference: Cooperation or Resistance? Land, 10(2), 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10020124

Hu, C. (2008). Administrative Litigation and National Compensation in 2005. The China Legal Development Yearbook. Available online: https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004180567/B9789004180567_017.xml (accessed on 23 August 2023).

Jay Chen, C. J. (2020). Peasant protests over land seizures in rural China. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 47(6), 1327–1347. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1824182

Kui, H., & Shu, J. (2003). Waves of Xinfang Cases hit China in 2003. Oriental Weekly.

Lang, P. (2004). Reform of the Xinfang system must be coordinated with judicial reform. Qing Nian Bao.

Li, L., Zhang, J., Liu, S., et al. (2018). The Evolution and Context of Grassroots Social Governance in China: A Dialogue among Li Lianjiang, Zhang Jing, Liu Shouying, and Ying Xing. Chinese Social Science Review, 5-11.

Lian, H., Glendinning, A., & Yin, B. (2016). The Issue of ‘Land-lost’ Farmers in the People’s Republic of China: reasons for discontent, actions and claims to legitimacy. Journal of Contemporary China, 25(101), 718–730. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2016.1160505

Lin, L. (2015). China’s imploding pressure cooker: Xinfang petitions. The Diplomat.

Lin, Q., Tan, S., Zhang, L., Wang, S., Wei, C., & Li, Y. (2018). Conflicts of land expropriation in China during 2006–2016: An overview and its spatio-temporal characteristics. Land Use Policy, 76, 246–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.05.018

Lin, T. (2015). Chinese Attitudes Toward Third-Party Dispute Resolution in International Law. NYUJ Int’l L. &Pol. Available online: https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/nyuilp48§ion=15 (accessed on 21 July 2023).

Minzner, C. (2006). Xinfang: an alternative to formal Chinese legal institutions. Stanford Journal of International Law.

Nwachukwu, C. C. (2020). Traditional shrine: a place for alternative dispute resolution in Igbo land. J. Afr. Stud. Sustain. Dev. 3, 5.

Palmisano, V. (2016). The Xinfang System: A Major Threat to an Effective Judiciary. US-China L. Rev.

Qian, Z. (2004). Land Expropriation: Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium—Analysis of Current Chinese Land Requisition System. Management of the World.

Qian, Z., & Mou, Y. (2015). The land requisition system, land finance, and the reform of rural land marketization in China.

Wen, B. C. (2020). The Logical Connection between Xinfang Relief and People’s Mediation. Chinese Public Administration, 140-146. https://doi.org/10.19735/j.issn.1006-0863.2020.11.17

Winters, M. S., & Conroy-Krutz, J. (2021). Preferences for traditional and formal sector justice institutions to address land disputes in rural Mali. World Development, 142, 105452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105452

Whiting, S. (2011). Values in Land: Fiscal Pressures, Land Disputes and Justice Claims in Rural and Peri-urban China. Urban Studies, 48(3), 569–587. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098010390242

Xia, Y. (2019). Dual Logic of Petition System and “Non-Administrative Petition”: A Case Study of Repeated Collective Petition in City A (2010-2014). Political Science Research, 102-111.

Xiong, W. S. (2021). The social composition of land rights: a new perspective on rural land rights after the separation of powers. Social Sciences, 70-81. https://doi.org/10.13644/j.cnki.cn31-1112.2021.05.006

Xu, Y. F., Wang, Y. B. (2020). Innovation in the Mode of Petition Governance: An Analysis Based on a Land Requisition Case. Journal of Yunnan Administrative College, 43-48. https://doi.org/10.16273/j.cnki.53-1134/d.2020.04.008

Yang, Y. (2021). Online Xinfang: Generation Logic, Operational Challenges, and Optimization Strategies. Hubei Social Sciences, 34-40. https://doi.org/10.13660/j.cnki.42-1112/c.015641

Zhang, T. (2008). The Xinfang phenomenon: Why the Chinese prefer administrative petitioning over litigation: openyls.law.yale.edu.

Zhao, X., & Xie, Y. (2022). The effect of land expropriation on local political trust in China. Land Use Policy, 114, 105966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105966

Zhou, C., & Banik, D. (2014). Access to Justice and Social Unrest in China’s Countryside: Disputes on Land Acquisition and Compensation. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 6(2), 254–275. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1876404514001110

Zou, K. (2009). Granting or refusing the right to petition: The dilemma of China’s Xinfang system. Socialist China, Capitalist China. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203880111-15




DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i3.2944

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 Xiangzhuo Wang, Nor Ashikin Mohamed Yusof, Siti Hasliah Salleh

License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.