Teng Li

This dissertation will be about the transition of property law in rural areas of Northeast China and Taiwan between 1945 and 1952. Across different historical periods and regimes, peasants’ land ownership and their concept about property experienced substantial changes. This dissertation project will provide answers to two questions: (1) how successful GMD was in bringing the post-colonial Northeast China and Taiwan out of the influence of Japanese property law; and (2) how CCP and GMD engaged law differently when they imposed their preferred structures of land ownership in Northeast China and Taiwan – essences of which still stand today.