Abstract:

This paper took the change of urban land property rights in Guangzhou during the Republic of China as an example to investigate how the modern national government using new legal provisions, tax systems, administrative management and other measures to set up a "New Management" system of urban land property rights. The paper also tried to explore the mechanism of the urban land property rights system in the specific time and space of modern China, and how the modern government achieves the shift from local land to land with public functions.After the Revolution of 1911, the Guangdong military government classified "public property" or "official property" by legislation. The modern government made efforts to draw a precise line of demarcation between "public" and "private" land in the city. The emergence of many cases of "private houses constructed on official land" and "unlawful auction of private property" showed that there was no sharp demarcation between the ownership of public and private land. It's too difficult to solve with a single piece of legislation. After the establishment of the Guangzhou Municipality, the Municipality used the name "municipal property" to divide the scope of jurisdiction of provincial and municipal governments in fiscal taxation. In this way, the Municipality also accomplished the purpose of managing public land in the city. The excessive expansion of "municipal property" further confused the unclear demarcation line between public and private property rights, sparking massive protests. The appearance of a "private property guarantee" was a compromise between the government and the people on the boundary of public and private property rights. In addition to setting boundaries between public and private land ownership, modern state governments had tried to eliminate double ownership of shops. However, the government's efforts to expand the power of administration were opposed by the majority of business people, led by the General Chamber of Commerce. The compromise between the government and business people resulted in the implementation of the registration of the rights to rent a shop. In this way, the government indirectly implemented part of the management of private property rights. After the Guangzhou Municipality reorganized into a committee system in 1925, the government set up a land bureau to carry out land survey and land registration, which met with some resistance. It was not carried out in Guangzhou until the end of 1927. Through land surveying and land registration, the government solved the problem of the recognition of land property rights, and then linked the recognized property to specific tax obligations. It meant that private property rights were recognized and protected by the government by paying land tax. To this extent, the modern government and the people had come to a new agreement of financial relationships in land affairs. The basics of the urban land property management system had been established.

Key words: land registration, state-building theory, double property right, official property, urban land property rights