The evolution of land policies in China from 1980 to 2019: a policy-text based analysis

Land resources are indispensable for the development of a country, especially for a country such as China with a very high population relative to its land area. Since reforms were introduced and liberalization was adopted, many policies have been promulgated for the protection and utilization of land resources. In the present study, more than 2000 land policies that have been formulated and promulgated in China from 1980 to 2019 were examined and statistically analyzed to qualitatively and quantitatively introduce the evolution of these policies in China. This paper mainly studies land policy of China from three perspectives as follows: policy intensity, policy tools, and policy targets, and three principal observations emerged from these investigations. First, during the past 40 years, the quantity of land policies introduced showed an increasing trend, while policy intensity became increasingly stabilized. Second, compared with regulatory policies and stimulative policies, it seems that China prefers to adopt guiding policies to manage land resources. Third, the main purpose of land policies issued during 1980-2019 is land market regulation, with subordinate policies for land resources protection.