Concept of Private Property in China

Over the past few years, China had taken various measures to protect private property rights in the country.

But as recently as 1999, a small group of academics were discussing whether there could be such a thing as "private property" in China.

According to Jasper Becker in his book The Chinese, out of the hubbub of voices, "the sharp tones of the president of Zhengzhou University (郑州大学) raised a point that silenced the rest."

The university President reportedly said: "Then what would stop people from claiming the property they lost to the state after Liberation? After the French Revolution, children of the nobility could still claim their property under Napoleon. (pictured)"

Even former Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江泽民) concurred as much when he noted that China's socialist system will lose its economic foundation "if large amounts of state assets are indiscriminately transferred to individuals, and ultimately concentrated in the hands of just a few."

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long held that socialist publicly owned assets are sacred. Indeed, if the concept of public ownership is diluted, the CCP's name, which literally means "The Party of Public Assets", might also have to be altered.