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China is moving to create a society of "capitalists", that is
private entrepreneurs, as it moves to enshrine the right to private
property.
Authorities say the addition of the clause "the state will
respect and protect citizens' legally-obtained private property" to
the Constitution will inject more "entrepreneur spirit" into the
socialist country.
From Monday, about 3,000 deputies to the second session of 10th
National People's Congress (NPC) are discussing in Beijing whether
or not to specify the inviolability of private property in the
world's most populous nation.
Observers say the amendments to the Constitution will easily
pass with sweeping approval after the amendment draft was formally
submitted Monday to the session for deliberation before the top
legislators end their annual congress Sunday.
However, "private property" seems only a vague concept for
China's numerous poor or low-income people, who account for the
majority of the 1.3 billion population.
"The amendment to the Constitution is good," said 43-year-old
Liu Ruilian, who runs a news-stand for a living in the Xidan
Shopping Zone, west of the Great Hall of the People, where top
legislators are meeting.
"But what is private property? Are these worthless newspapers
private property?" asked Liu, who worked for a state-owned
enterprise before she was laid off.
"The government said my factory was owned by all the people, but
I can't take a cent freely from it," said Liu's husband Wang
Shuangquan, a state-owned enterprise worker.
In fact, the influence of China's traditional concept of
property, which covered only the ownership of land for thousands of
years, still lingers.
"All the land beneath heaven belongs to the king," said the
Book of Songs, collected and edited by China's most
influential philosopher Confucius about 3,000 years ago.
Up to 100 years ago, Chinese emperors could still expropriate
anyone's property any time by just simply issuing an edict, in an
era when landlords held political power, not capitalists.
However, the landlord class was eliminated during the land
reform of the 1950s after the Communist Party took over. "Private
property" remained a politically sensitive term at the dawn of
China's famous Reform and Opening-up drive beginning late 1978.
Liu Ruilian, the newspaper vendor, recalled that she lived in a
house allocated by the state in 1980 when she got her first job at
a state-owned enterprise to replace her retired mother. Liu's wages
were awarded according to the uniform criteria set by the
state.
"We had no concept of private properties since it was against
Communism then," she said.
But a growing number of private entrepreneurs began to emerge as
China accelerated its reform and opening-up drive. The richest,
especially those listed in the annual Forbes rankings of
Chinese billionaires, complained to the media, saying they had not
earned as much as the magazine said.
"Lack of confidence in the government's willingness to protect
private property, especially capital goods, is the major reason for
their reluctance to be exposed on the billionaires' ranking," said
Yang Qijing, a scholar at economics at the Beijing-based People's
University. Yang once conducted a survey on the wealth ranking
among more than 100 private entrepreneurs in China.
"Some began to buy large areas of real estate since the value of
housing conforms to the Chinese tradition," Yang said.
Other economists say the lack of protection of private property
often puts many private enterprises in a situation where they have
no idea which resources belong to them and which they can control
and arrange at will, thus preventing such enterprises from pursuing
creativity or expanding their business as in a Western society.
A survey by the State Statistics Bureau shows private economies
mainly focus on the services industry while the proportion of
banking, medical services, telecommunications and media is usually
kept below 20 percent.
"To give private property constitutional protection is just the
first step, given the low proportion of private economies in such
fields," Yang said. "The Chinese government should include more
clauses to protect private property in other laws."
Yang said in order for the amendment to be effective, China
still had to keep tens of thousands of officials to govern in
accordance with the law as stories on local officials' violation of
individuals' properties were reported repeatedly.
However, analysts say the widening gap between rich and poor in
China remains another major challenge for the Chinese government
after the constitutional amendments as poor people like Liu Ruilian
and Wang Shuangquan still feel uncomfortable towards the protection
of private property though they might know the Constitution
protects the whole people.
"It is not right to think protecting private property is just
safeguarding the wealth of the rich," said Bao Yujun, director of
China Private Economies Association.
"We have to tell the public, to protect private property is to
protect the right and freedom of all people to create wealth and to
allocate their assets as they like," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2004)
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