Chapter V Ownership of the State, the Collective and the Individual Person

Article 45 The property owned by the State as is provided for by law belongs to the State, that is, the entire people.

The State Council shall exercise ownership of State-owned property on behalf of the State; and where laws provide for otherwise, the provisions there shall prevail.

Article 46 All mineral resources, waters and sea areas belong to the State.

Article 47 Land in the cities belongs to the State. Land in the rural and suburban areas which belongs to the State as is provided for by law is owned by the State.

Article 48 Such natural resources as forests, mountains, grasslands, wasteland and tidal flats belong to the State, except where they belong to the collectives as is provided for by law.

Article 49 All resources of the wildlife that belong to the State, as is provided for by law, are owned by the State.

Article 50 All resources of radio-frequency spectrum belong to the State.

Article 51 All cultural relics that belong to the State, as is provided for by law, are owned by the State.

Article 52 All assets for national defense belong to the State.

All infrastructures such as railways, highways, power facilities, telecommunications facilities and oil and gas pipelines that belong to the State in accordance with the provisions of law are owned by the State.

Article 53 Government departments are entitled to possess and use the immovables and movables directly under their control and to dispose of them in accordance with laws and the relevant regulations of the State Council.

Article 54 Institutions sponsored by the State shall have the right to possess and use the immovables and movables directly under their control and to benefit from and dispose of them in accordance with laws and the relevant regulations of the State Council.

Article 55 With respect to enterprises invested by the State, the State Council or the local people’s governments shall, in accordance with the provisions of laws and administrative regulations, perform the duties of the investors on behalf of the State and enjoy the rights and interests of the investors.

Article 56 The property owned by the State shall be protected by law, and illegal possession, looting, privately dividing, withholding or destruction of such property by any units or individuals shall be prohibited.

Article 57 The authority performing the duties of administration and supervision over State-owned property and its staff members shall, according to law, exercise vigorous administration and supervision over State-owned property, promote the preservation and increase of the value of such property, and prevent its loss; and where losses are caused to State-owned property due to their abuse of power or dereliction of their duties, they shall bear legal liability according to law.

Where, in violation of the provisions governing the management of State-owned property, losses are caused to such property due to transferring it at a low price, privately dividing it in conspiracy with other persons, creating security on it without authorization or by other means in the course of enterprise restructuring, merger or division, affiliated transaction, etc., legal liability shall be borne according to law.

Article 58 The immovables and movables owned by the collective include the following:

(1) the land, forests, mountains, grasslands, wasteland and tidal flats belong to the collective, as is provided for by law;

(2) the buildings, production equipment, water conservancy facilities of farmland that are owned by the collective;

(3) the educational, scientific, cultural, public health and sports facilities that are owned by the collective; and

(4) other immovables and movables owned by the collective.

Article 59 The immovables and movables collectively owned by the farmers belong to the members of the collective.

The following matters shall be subject to decision by the members of a given collective in accordance with the statutory procedure:

(1) plans for contracting of land, and subcontracting of land to other units or to individuals other than those belonging to the collective;

(2) adjustment to be made to the contracted land by the individual persons among themselves who have the right to land contractual management;

(3) methods for the use and distribution of such fees as compensations paid for land;

(4) such matters as change in ownership of the enterprises invested by the collective; and

(5) other matters as provided for by law.

Article 60 With respect to the land, forests, mountains, grasslands, wasteland, tidal flats, etc. owned by the collective, the right of their ownership shall be exercised in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) For those owned by the collective of farmers of a village, the collective economic organization of the village or the villagers’ committee shall exercise the right of ownership on behalf of the collective;

(2) For those respectively owned by two or more collectives of farmers within a village, the collective economic organizations or villagers’ teams concerned within the village shall exercise the right of ownership on behalf of the collectives; and

(3) For those owned by the collective of farmers of a town or township, the collective economic organization of the town or township shall exercise the right of ownership on behalf of the collective.

Article 61 With respect to the immovables and movables owned by a collective of a town or township, the said collective shall, in accordance with the provisions of laws and administrative regulations, have the right to possess, use, benefit from and dispose of such immovables and movables.

Article 62 The collective economic organization or the villagers’ committee or team shall, in accordance with laws and administrative regulations as well as the articles of association, village rules and farmers’ agreements, make the position of the collective property known to the members of the collective.

Article 63 The property owned by the collective shall be protected by law, and illegal possession, looting, privately sharing, and destruction of such property by any units or individuals shall be prohibited.

Where a decision made by a collective economic organization, or villagers’ committee or by the leading person of the organization or committee encroaches on the lawful rights and interests of the members of the collective, the said members may apply to a people’s court for reversing such decision.

Article 64 All individual persons shall be entitled to enjoy ownership of such immovables and movables as their lawful incomes, houses, articles for daily use, tools of production, and raw and semi-finished materials.

Article 65 The lawful savings and investments of individual persons and the gains derived there from are protected by law.

The State protects, in accordance with the provisions of law, the right of individual persons to inheritance and their other lawful rights and interests.

Article 66 The lawful property of individual persons is protected by law, and illegal possession, looting and destruction of such property by any units or individuals are prohibited.

Article 67 The State, the collective or the individual person may, in accordance with law, invest to establish companies with limited liability, companies limited by shares or other enterprises. Where the immovables or movables owned by the State, the collective or the individual person are invested in enterprises, the investor shall have such rights as receiving benefits derived from the assets, making major decisions and selecting managers, and shall perform it/his duties, in accordance with what is agreed upon or in proportion to the amount of investment.

Article 68 An enterprise legal person has the right to possess, use, benefit from and dispose of his immovables and movables in accordance with laws and administrative regulations as well as the articles of association.

The rights enjoyed by legal persons other than enterprise legal persons with respect to their immovables and movables shall be governed by the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations as well as the articles of association.

Article 69 The immovables and movables owned by public organizations according to law are protected by law.