According to The Land-use Change Survey in 2004, China had 122.44 million hectares of cultivated land, 11.29 million hectares of gardens, 235.05 million hectares of forest, 262.71 million hectares of pasture, 25.53 million hectares of land for other agricultural uses, 25.73 million hectares of land for residential, industrial and mining uses, 2.23 million hectares of land for transport and communications and 3.59 million hectares of land for water conservancy facilities. The rest was unused land. In comparison with 2003, cultivated land shrank by 0.77%, gardens increased by 1.86%, forest increased by 0.46%, pasture decreased by 0.15%, residential, industrial and mining uses grew by 1.48% and land for transport and communications increased by 4.10% in 2004.

The net area of reduced cultivated land in China was 800,300 hectares in 2004, of which 145,100 hectares of cultivated land were occupied by construction, 63,300 hectares were destroyed by natural hazards, 732,900 hectares were turned for ecological preservation purposes, 204,700 hectares decreased as a result of agricultural restructuring and 345,600 hectares of cultivated land were added by land consolidation, reclamation and development. In addition, 147,700 hectares of cultivated land that had been used for construction previously but their change reports were not submitted were dealt with.

Cultivated land turned for ecological preservation purposes included 695,400 hectares of cultivated land returned for forest, 37,000 hectares to grassland and 300 hectares to lakes. Turning cultivated land for ecological preservation purposes remained to be the main factor for the shrinkage of cultivated land.

In 2004 land used for construction increased by 267,800 hectares, of which 125,100 hectares of cultivated land were used for industrial and mining purposes (including various development zones and industrial parks), 56,500 hectares for urban construction, 25,500 hectares for village construction and 60,700 hectares for infrastructures such as those for transport and communication and water conservancy facilities.

775 government-invested projects for land consolidation, reclamation and development were newly established with a total construction area of 615,100 hectares, including 514,500 hectares of land for land consolidation, accounting for 83%; 40,500 hectares for land reclamation, accounting for 7%; and 60,100 hectares for land development, accounting for 10%. 149,000 hectares of cultivated land were added.

A balance was maintained between occupied and added cultivated land. The area of added cultivated land exceeded that of occupied one in 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government).

The State Council’s “Decision on Deepening Reforms for Tightening Land Management” was implemented conscientiously, and a series of relevant documents for strengthening land management were worked out, mainly including the “Measures for the Administration of Annual Land-Use Planning”, “Measures for the Administration of Preliminary Examination of Land Used for Construction”, “Control Indexes of Land Used for Construction of Industrial Projects (Trial)”, “Opinions on Strengthening the Administration of Rural House Sites”, “Opinions on Improving Examination and Approval of Agricultural Land Transfer and Land Expropriation”, “Guiding Opinions of Improving the Requisited Land Remuneration and Resettlement System” and “Notice of Further Strengthening the Administration of Collection and Use Compensation Payable for the use of Added Land for Construction".

The strictest land management system was implemented，and reform of land requisition was energetically pushed forward. We conscientiously organized and carried out the examination of primary farm land protection; maintained a strict standard for examination and approval of added land used for construction; positively carried out examination of the balance between occupied and added cultivated land and paid compensation for cultivated land; adhered to the principle of “4Ms” in land requisition management, i.e. plans must be implemented, farmer’s opinions must be sought sufficiently, compensation and resettlement fees must be paid in full before land used for construction, and the land requisition process, standards of payment and land-use status must be open to the public. We also promoted the reform of the land requisition system and improved the compensation and resettlement system of land requisition; and implemented the State Council’s requirement on using a part of land granted fees in development of agricultural land, and efforts for land reclamation, consolidation and development were intensified in all parts of China.

Land used for key construction projects in urgent need was ensured preferentially. During the period when the transfer of land from agricultural to nonagricultural purposes was suspended, in cooperation with the National Development and Reform Commission we validated 2,256 key projects in urgent need (involving 120,000 hectares of agricultural land), of which 217 key projects in urgent need and 43,795 hectares of land (including 27,521 hectares of cultivated land) for construction were approved by the State Council. In support of implementing the development of the western region and revitalizing Northeast China and other old industrial bases, the land used for approved projects accounted for 47% of the total in China.

The total area of granted land of China was 178,700 hectares, with the fees for granting amounting to 589.414 billion yuan (~ US$ 71.211 billion ), of which land granted by public bidding, auctioning and listing and its fees for granting were 52,100 hectares and 325.368 billion yuan (~US$ 39.31 billion), accounting for 29.2% and 55.2％ of the total, respectively.