Suchergebnisse

Since 2004, two auction mechanisms – listing auctions and tender auctions – have played a dominant role in land lease arrangements for real estate development in Beijing. Listing auctions in land markets are similar to general English auctions, where bidders offer the highest price to win. However, in tender auctions, winners are determined by the bidding price and the bidder's financial capability and reputation. Based on granted land parcels from 2006 to 2012 in Beijing, this paper attempts to examine the price differences between the two auctions and the role of land auction in urban development and price stabilisation. We find that land policy in Beijing, which aims to stabilise land prices and to provide low-price residences, has been integrated with urban development planning in terms of spatial and density pattern. Land leasing in Beijing is not only a land policy but also a part of the strategy framework of local development.

The Natural Bounty of China is an important book series of 60 titles that comprehensively documents the vast diversity of China's natural resources. China recognizes more than 1,600 products unique to the country - known as geographical indication products. This series describes these products in detail, with each single volume focusing on a particular region of China and the unique products cultivated there, such as Changbaishan ginseng in northeast China to the bean paste of Pixian (the "soul of Sichuan cuisine") in the southwest. From the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang to history-steeped Shandong and gorgeously scenic Yunnan, almost every place in the country has produced something that is readily identifiable with it. This series not only makes a major contribution to our understanding of the geography and agriculture of China, but also gives us a greater appreciation of Chinese culture as a whole. This volume looks at the abundant resources and products of China's historic capital city, Beijing.

As China exerts increasing influence on the world stage and particularly in the Asia Pacific region, the issue of religious freedom will become one of greater urgency. The struggle for religious freedom for China's Catholic population provides a window into the impact that religious pluralism is having on the Chinese state, and the tensions between China's leadership and the Vatican over freedom of religion for China's Catholics provides an important test case for how China negotiates church/state relations within its own society. This article argues that the differing viewpoints on religious freedom found in the Catholic Church's Vatican II documents, and China's 1982 Constitution, are the origin of these tensions. The article then examines Huntington's Third Wave theory of democratization, updated by Philpott, to examine how the tensions between the Chinese state and the Catholic Church, which has a successful history of challenging communist states, are being played out.