Opinion | How China’s landmark law changes help protect farmland and farmers’ rights

In August, a viral video showed a cluster of high-rise buildings exploding spectacularly. The unfinished buildings in Kunming, southwest China, were destroyed in a controlled demolition after the developer ran out of money.

The demolition is an emblem of the economic cost of unchecked development. But this zeal for growth also bears a substantial social cost.

In 2014, Kunming was also the site of a deadly confrontation between villagers and construction workers. Eight people died and 18 were injured in the incident triggered by a land redevelopment project that would displace rural residents without adequate compensation and resettlement.

While such violence is reportedly rare in China, conflicts over land expropriation and redevelopment are common amid the largest urbanisation effort in the world.

The breakneck pace of urbanisation in China has put farmers’ land increasingly in the crosshairs of developers. Taking land, too often carried out without adequate consultation or compensation, sows discontent and strife among farmers who find that their rights to land are under threat.

While such unhappiness rarely erupts into the level of violence seen in Kunming in 2014, the tragic incident is a dramatic reminder of the threat to social harmony and shared prosperity posed by land grabs. A 2018 study by Chinese researchers of 106 land conflicts from 2006 to 2016 found that 95 of the cases occurred during or after land expropriation. Violence was not an uncommon outcome, with the study citing 28 deaths and 473 injuries in the conflicts.