Manifestation of Authoritarian Resilience?: Evolution of Property Management in Beijing

Abstract

This article discusses how middle-class homeowners in urban China have made advancement in collective interest representation and thus protection of private property rights in more systematic ways: not just by contending but by participating in public policy process. This is quite salient in their participation in relevant legislation, from the Property Law in 2007 to the Ordinance on Property Management in Beijing in 2010 and a new version of property management-related local legislation underway. Further investigation of this topic sheds lights on theoretical issues of in what ways and to what extents the state-society interaction in contemporary China is evolving.