Better Leveraging the Role of the Rule of Law in Further Deepening Rural Reform

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC [1]1 The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC: A major meeting of the Communist Party of China's top leadership, held in July 2024, focused on further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese-path modernization. made strategic arrangements for improving the systems and mechanisms for integrated urban-rural development, emphasizing the consolidation and improvement of the basic rural operation system, the improvement of support systems for strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers, and enriching rural areas, and the deepening of land system reform. Subsequently, the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued important documents such as the "Opinions on Further Deepening Rural Reform and Solidly Advancing Comprehensive Rural Revitalization," the "Comprehensive Rural Revitalization Plan (2024–2027)," and the "Plan for Accelerating the Building of an Agricultural Powerhouse (2024–2035)," clarifying the overall requirements and work priorities for further deepening rural reform and advancing comprehensive rural revitalization. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Better leverage the positive role of the rule of law in removing obstacles to reform and consolidating reform achievements, be adept at using rule-of-law thinking and rule-of-law methods to advance reform, ensuring that major reforms have a legal basis, and equally protect the legitimate rights and interests of all citizens and legal persons." To further deepen rural reform, we must better leverage the rule of law's role in consolidating foundations, stabilizing expectations, and ensuring long-term benefits, and persist in using rule-of-law thinking and rule-of-law methods to properly handle a series of major issues in rural reform.

党的二十届三中全会就完善城乡融合发展体制机制作出战略部署，强调巩固和完善农村基本经营制度，完善强农惠农富农支持制度，深化土地制度改革等。随后，中共中央、国务院印发《关于进一步深化农村改革 扎实推进乡村全面振兴的意见》《乡村全面振兴规划（2024—2027年）》《加快建设农业强国规划（2024—2035年）》等重要文件，明确了进一步深化农村改革、推进乡村全面振兴的总体要求和工作重点。习近平总书记指出：“更好发挥法治在排除改革阻力、巩固改革成果中的积极作用，善于运用法治思维和法治方式推进改革，做到重大改革于法有据，平等保护全体公民和法人的合法权益。”进一步深化农村改革，必须更好发挥法治固根本、稳预期、利长远的保障作用，坚持运用法治思维和法治方式妥善处理农村改革一系列重大问题。

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General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Under the new situation, the main thread of deepening rural reform remains handling the relationship between farmers and land." China's Constitution stipulates that "rural collective economic organizations implement a two-tier management system based on household contract management combined with unified and decentralized management" and "land in rural and suburban areas, except for that which is owned by the state as stipulated by law, is owned by collectives; residential land and private plots and hillsides are also owned by collectives." To properly handle the relationship between farmers and land, it is necessary to consolidate and improve the basic rural operation system, that is, to adhere to collective ownership of rural land, adhere to the foundational status of household management, adhere to stabilizing land contract relationships, and improve the system of separating ownership rights, contract rights, and management rights. [2]2 The system of separating ownership rights, contract rights, and management rights (三权分置): A Chinese rural land reform policy that separates land ownership (held by the collective), contract rights (held by the farming household), and management rights (which can be transferred to other entities), designed to facilitate land transfer while protecting farmers' rights.

习近平总书记指出：“新形势下深化农村改革，主线仍然是处理好农民和土地的关系。”我国宪法规定，“农村集体经济组织实行家庭承包经营为基础、统分结合的双层经营体制”，“农村和城市郊区的土地，除由法律规定属于国家所有的以外，属于集体所有；宅基地和自留地、自留山，也属于集体所有”。处理好农民与土地的关系，必须巩固和完善农村基本经营制度，即坚持农村土地集体所有，坚持家庭经营基础性地位，坚持稳定土地承包关系，完善“三权分置”制度。

Adhere to collective ownership of rural land. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, [3]3 The 18th National Congress of the CPC: A pivotal Party congress held in 2012 that marked the beginning of the New Era under Xi Jinping's leadership. the relevant legal provisions upholding collective ownership of rural land have been increasingly improved. The "Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China," revised in 2019, made detailed provisions on the methods of contracting out rural collective land, the inclusion of collective operational construction land in the annual land use plan, and the participation of rural collective economic organizations and their members in the land expropriation process. The "Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" designates "rural collective economic organization legal persons" as "special legal persons," opening a new chapter in safeguarding the civil subject status of rural collective economic organizations. The "Law of the People's Republic of China on Rural Collective Economic Organizations," passed in June 2024, is a landmark achievement in China's legislative history concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. Currently, to adhere to collective ownership of rural land, it is necessary to highlight the legal status of rural collectives as land owners, actively explore suitable mechanisms for revitalizing abandoned land and restoring soil fertility, and implement the strictest system for protecting arable land; deepen the reform of market entry for collective operational construction land, improve mechanisms for income distribution and rights protection, and enable farmers to obtain more property income; prudently and steadily advance the reform of the rural residential land system, and legally address acts that infringe upon collective ownership of residential land.

坚持农村土地集体所有。党的十八大以来，坚持农村土地集体所有的相关法律规定日趋完善。2019年修订的《中华人民共和国土地管理法》就农村集体土地的发包方式、集体经营性建设用地纳入土地利用年度计划、土地征收过程中农村集体经济组织及其成员参与等问题作出细致规定。《中华人民共和国民法典》将“农村集体经济组织法人”规定为“特别法人”，开辟了保障农村集体经济组织民事主体资格的新篇章。2024年6月通过的《中华人民共和国农村集体经济组织法》，更是我国“三农”立法史上的标志性成果。当前，坚持农村土地集体所有，必须突出农村集体作为土地所有者的法律地位，积极探索盘活撂荒地、恢复地力的适宜机制，落实最严格保护耕地制度；深化农村集体经营性建设用地入市改革，健全收益分配和权益保护机制，让农民获得更多财产性收入；稳慎推进农村宅基地制度改革，依法处置侵害宅基地集体所有权的行为。

Adhere to the foundational status of household management. First, China's laws have continuously strengthened the legal status of farming households as the main entities contracting for and managing collective land. The "Law of the People's Republic of China on Rural Land Contracts" stipulates: The state implements a rural land contract management system, "no organization or individual may deprive or illegally restrict the right of members of rural collective economic organizations to contract land," and "after a contract takes effect, the contracting party may not change or rescind it due to changes in the contractor or responsible person, nor may it change or rescind it due to the division or merger of the collective economic organization." Second, the property rights protection for rural land contract management rights has been increasingly strengthened. The "Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" clearly stipulates: Holders of land contract management rights have the right to possess, use, and benefit from the cultivated land, forestland, and grassland they contract to manage, and have the right to engage in agricultural production such as crop farming, forestry, and animal husbandry. At the same time, the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Rural Land Contracts" explicitly allows the use of land management rights for financing guarantees, further enriching the functions of land contract management rights. China has steadily advanced the work of confirming, registering, and certifying rural land contract management rights, which is now basically complete—another major achievement in strengthening the protection of farmers' rights since reform and opening up. Currently, the management system for land contract contracts should be further improved, and the informatization of rural land contract contract management should be vigorously promoted. Finally, adhere to the principle of stabilizing rural land contract relationships. The pilot project to extend the second round of land contracts for another 30 years after their expiration should be advanced in an orderly manner. This requires both complying with the principle of not disrupting and redistributing contracted land and maintaining overall stability in rural land contract relationships, and making proper arrangements for situations such as damage to contracted land from natural disasters, land ownership disputes, land occupation for public facilities, and prominent conflicts between people and land, handling them in accordance with legal authority, methods, and procedures.

坚持家庭经营基础性地位。首先，我国法律不断强化农户作为集体土地承包经营的法定主体地位。《中华人民共和国农村土地承包法》规定：国家实行农村土地承包经营制度，“任何组织和个人不得剥夺和非法限制农村集体经济组织成员承包土地的权利”，“承包合同生效后，发包方不得因承办人或者负责人的变动而变更或者解除，也不得因集体经济组织的分立或者合并而变更或者解除”。其次，对农村土地承包经营权的物权保护日益增强。《中华人民共和国民法典》明确规定：土地承包经营权人依法对其承包经营的耕地、林地、草地等享有占有、使用和收益的权利，有权从事种植业、林业、畜牧业等农业生产。同时，《中华人民共和国农村土地承包法》明确可以用土地经营权进行融资担保，进一步丰富了土地承包经营权的权能。我国稳步推进农村土地承包经营权确权登记颁证工作，目前已基本完成，这是改革开放以来我国强化农民权益保护的又一重大成果。当前，应进一步完善土地承包合同管理制度，大力推进农村土地承包合同管理信息化建设。最后，坚持稳定农村土地承包关系原则。有序推进第二轮土地承包到期后再延长三十年试点，既要遵守不得将承包地打乱重分、保持农村土地承包关系总体稳定的原则要求，又要对承包地自然灾害毁损、土地权属争议、公共设施占地、人地矛盾突出等情形作出妥善安排，依照法定的权限、方式和程序处理。

Improving the system of separating ownership rights, contract rights, and management rights both accommodates farmers' desire to retain land contract rights while transferring land management rights, and meets the practical requirements for better upholding the collective ownership system of rural land under current conditions. With the revision of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Rural Land Contracts" in 2018 and the enactment of related laws such as the "Civil Code of the People's Republic of China," the separation of three rights has formally become national law. Currently, to further deepen the reform of separating the three rights, it is necessary to fully respect the legal status of farming households as contracting entities, fully respect farmers' willingness to transfer land, and primarily promote land transfer through demonstration and guidance; improve the management service system for land management rights transfer, gradually build platforms for land management rights transfer, and connect them with industrial development platforms and employment platforms, continuously improving the price formation mechanism for rural land transfer based on shared benefits and risk sharing; focus on driving the development of farming households through new types of agricultural management entities, and accelerate the construction of a three-dimensional, compound modern agricultural management system based on household management, with cooperation and association as a link, and supported by socialized services.

完善“三权分置”制度，既顺应了农民保留土地承包权、流转土地经营权的意愿，也能满足在当前条件下更好坚持农村土地集体所有制的现实要求。随着《中华人民共和国农村土地承包法》于2018年修订和《中华人民共和国民法典》等相关法律的出台，“三权分置”正式成为国家法律。当前，进一步深化“三权分置”改革，必须充分尊重农户作为承包主体的法律地位，充分尊重农民流转意愿，主要通过示范和引导的方式推动土地流转；健全土地经营权流转管理服务制度，逐步搭建土地经营权流转平台，并与产业发展平台、就业平台相衔接，在收益共享和分担风险的基础上不断完善农村土地流转价格形成机制；以新型农业经营主体带动农户发展为重点，加快构建以农户家庭经营为基础、合作与联合为纽带、社会化服务为支撑的立体式复合型现代农业经营体系。

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To promote integrated urban-rural development, it is necessary to base actions on the "Urban and Rural Planning Law of the People's Republic of China," the "Rural Revitalization Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China," and other laws, actively advance the construction of systems, mechanisms, and policy frameworks for integrated urban-rural development, and accelerate the formation of a new type of worker-peasant and urban-rural relationship characterized by mutual promotion between industry and agriculture, urban-rural complementarity, coordinated development, and shared prosperity.

促进城乡融合发展，必须以《中华人民共和国城乡规划法》《中华人民共和国乡村振兴促进法》等为依据，积极推动城乡融合发展体制机制和政策体系建设，加快形成工农互促、城乡互补、协调发展、共同繁荣的新型工农城乡关系。

Implement the principles of upholding the principal status of farmers and protecting farmers' rights and interests throughout the process of integrated urban-rural development. In line with the general trend of integrated urban-rural development, rural collective economic organizations should make full use of the diversified avenues provided by law, such as resource contracting, property leasing, intermediary services, and equity participation in operational assets, to actively and prudently develop the collective economy, providing more distributable income for members of the collective economic organization; governments at all levels should actively encourage and support farmers in developing specialty agriculture, rural tourism, and courtyard economies based on local resources, following a development path combining industry, science and technology, and culture, and increasing farmers' income through multiple channels; actively promote the establishment of close interest linkage mechanisms between farmers and farmers' professional cooperatives, family farms, agricultural enterprises, e-commerce enterprises, and specialized agricultural socialized service organizations through various means, and improve the policy system for tilting the distribution of value-added income toward farming households. At the same time, in accordance with legal provisions such as "quantifying the income rights of collectively owned operational assets in the form of shares to members of the rural collective economic organization," deepen the reform of the rural collective property rights system, and grant farmers more complete property rights and interests.

把坚持农民主体地位、保障农民权益等原则贯彻到城乡融合发展过程中。顺应城乡融合发展大趋势，农村集体经济组织应充分利用法律规定的资源发包、物业出租、居间服务、经营性财产参股等多样化途径积极审慎发展集体经济，为集体经济组织成员提供更多可供分配的收益；各级政府积极鼓励和扶持农民立足本地资源发展特色农业、乡村旅游、庭院经济，走产业、科技、文化相结合的发展道路，多渠道增加农民收入；积极推动农民专业合作社、家庭农场和涉农企业、电子商务企业、农业专业化社会化服务组织等以多种方式与农民建立紧密型利益联结机制，完善推动增值收益分配向农户倾斜的政策体系。同时，依据“将集体所有的经营性财产的收益权以份额形式量化到本农村集体经济组织成员”等法律规定，深化农村集体产权制度改革，赋予农民更加充分的财产权益。

Accelerate the construction of a unified urban-rural market for factors of resources. Continuously improve mechanisms such as linking the increase in urban construction land scale with the number of agricultural transfer population settling in cities, steadily and orderly advance the reform of market entry for rural collective operational construction land, and accelerate the construction of a unified urban-rural construction land market. Strictly implement the priority guarantee of financial investment for rural revitalization, implement legal provisions and policy requirements for increasing the proportion of land transfer revenue used for agriculture and rural areas, fully utilize the authorization clause in the *Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Rural Revitalization* that allows provincial people's governments to issue government bonds in the agricultural and rural fields, focus on key areas of agricultural and rural development, and leverage social capital to invest in agriculture and rural areas. Seize the opportunity of the digital economy, improve the multi-level rural financial service system and differentiated loan policy system, and steadily reduce borrowing transaction costs. Optimize the layout of agricultural productive forces, strengthen the construction of the agricultural technology extension system, rely on rural characteristic advantageous resources, support and promote the integrated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas, and drive the full-chain upgrading of rural industries. Promote the smooth cross-regional flow of labor and talent, implement a new round of citizenization actions for the agricultural transfer population, and promote the coverage of urban basic public services for all permanent residents.

加快城乡统一的要素资源市场建设。不断完善城镇建设用地增加规模同吸纳农业转移人口落户数量挂钩等机制，稳妥有序推进农村集体经营性建设用地入市改革，加快构建城乡统一的建设用地市场。严格落实财政投入优先保障乡村振兴，落实提高土地出让收益用于农业农村比例的法律规定和政策要求，充分用好《中华人民共和国乡村振兴促进法》对省级人民政府发行农业农村领域政府债券的授权条款，聚焦农业农村发展的重点领域，撬动社会资金投入农业农村。把握数字经济契机，完善多层次的农村金融服务体系和差异化贷款政策体系，稳步降低借贷交易成本。优化农业生产力布局，加强农业技术推广体系建设，以乡村特色优势资源为依托，支持、促进农村一二三产业融合发展，推动乡村产业全链条升级。促进劳动力、人才跨地区顺畅流动，实施新一轮农业转移人口市民化行动，推动城镇基本公共服务覆盖全部常住人口。

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Effective governance is an important guarantee for rural revitalization. The "Opinions on Implementing the Rural Revitalization Strategy" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council clearly requires "accelerating the modernization of the rural governance system and governance capacity" and puts forward the major task of "building a law-based rural area." To this end, we should further improve the rural governance system led by Party organizations, combining self-governance, law-based governance, and rule of virtue, and accelerate the realization of good governance in rural areas.

治理有效，是乡村振兴的重要保障。中共中央、国务院发布的《关于实施乡村振兴战略的意见》明确要求“加快推进乡村治理体系和治理能力现代化”，并提出“建设法治乡村”的重大任务。为此，应进一步健全党组织领导的自治、法治、德治相结合的乡村治理体系，加快实现乡村善治。

Strengthen the construction of rural grassroots Party organizations, and fully leverage their role as battle fortresses in uniting and leading the masses to comprehensively promote rural revitalization. Select and strengthen township leadership teams, and enhance the ability of grassroots Party organizations to use legal thinking and law-based methods to deepen reform, promote development, resolve contradictions, maintain stability, and respond to risks. Improve the leadership mechanism of village Party organizations over various organizations and work; important village matters and major issues shall be discussed and studied by the village Party organization before being decided according to procedures, and the "Four Discussions and Two Openings" [4]4 "Four Discussions and Two Openings" (四议两公开) is a decision-making and oversight mechanism for village affairs in China. It requires that major village matters be decided through four steps: proposals by the village Party branch, discussion by the village Party branch and village committee, deliberation by the Party members' assembly, and resolution by the villagers' representative assembly; the results must then be made public in two stages: the resolution and the implementation outcome. shall be fully implemented. For first secretaries and work teams stationed in villages, coordination should be strengthened, incentives enhanced, and working methods innovated to achieve synergistic effects on the overall development of the region.

加强农村基层党组织建设，充分发挥团结带领群众全面推进乡村振兴的战斗堡垒作用。选优配强乡镇领导班子，提高基层党组织运用法治思维和法治方式深化改革、推动发展、化解矛盾、维护稳定、应对风险的能力。完善村党组织对各类组织和各项工作领导机制，村级重要事项、重大问题由村党组织研究讨论后按程序决定，全面落实“四议两公开”。对驻村第一书记和工作队，要加强统筹，增强激励，创新工作方式，实现对地区整体发展的协同效应。

Handle rural grassroots affairs according to law to achieve rural harmony and stability. Further improve the rural grassroots public legal service system, expand the supply of legal service resources in rural social governance, and provide equalized services such as legal consultation, mediation, and arbitration. Combine law popularization and publicity with the establishment of mechanisms for high-quality cultural resources to directly reach the grassroots, achieving the infiltration of the rule of law through "culture benefiting the people." Make good use of the extensive self-governance rights granted to villagers by laws such as the *Organic Law of the Villagers' Committees of the People's Republic of China* and the *Law of the People's Republic of China on Rural Collective Economic Organizations*, continuously improve the villagers' self-governance mechanism led by Party organizations within the scope of legal authority and procedures, perfect the villagers' (representative) meeting system, and promote the practice of democratic elections, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision. Actively innovate forms of consultation and discussion and activity carriers, relying on villagers' meetings, villagers' representative meetings, villagers' councils, villagers' boards, villagers' supervisory committees, etc., to encourage rural areas to carry out various consultation activities such as villagers' discussions, public opinion talks, and people's deliberations. In response to prominent problems existing in rural society, such as favor-seeking comparisons, extravagant ceremonies, lavish funerals with meager support during life, and scattered and disorderly burials, not only should illegal issues involved be dealt with according to law, but village rules and civil agreements should also be formulated according to local conditions to promote the transformation of outdated customs.

依法处理农村基层事务，实现乡村和谐稳定。进一步完善农村基层公共法律服务体系，扩大农村社会治理中的法律服务资源供给，提供法律咨询、调解、仲裁等均等化服务。把普法宣传与建立优质文化资源直达基层机制结合起来，在“文化惠民”中实现法治浸润。用好《中华人民共和国村民委员会组织法》《中华人民共和国农村集体经济组织法》等法律赋予村民的广泛自治权利，在法定权限和程序范围内，不断健全党组织领导的村民自治机制，完善村民（代表）会议制度，推进民主选举、民主协商、民主决策、民主管理、民主监督实践。积极创新协商议事形式和活动载体，依托村民会议、村民代表会议、村民议事会、村民理事会、村民监事会等，鼓励农村开展村民说事、民情恳谈、百姓议事等各类协商活动。针对农村社会存在的人情攀比、大操大办、厚葬薄养、散埋乱葬等突出问题，不仅要对其中涉及违法的问题依法处置，也要因地制宜制定村规民约，推动移风易俗。

(Author: Zhang Zhenli, Specially Appointed Researcher of the Beijing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era Research Center, Director of the Institute of Rule of Law, Beijing Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者：张真理，系北京市习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特约研究员、北京市社会科学院法治所所长）

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