From the chinese press

Govts use land as gold

Local governments are caught in a dilemma over whether to curb housing prices. But their action in most cases has been restricted to words as they continue to make more and more profits from transfers of land-use rights, says an article in Youth Times. Excerpts:

A record price was offered for land at an auction in Beijing on March 15 in contrast to what was suggested at the just concluded NPC and CPPCC sessions. What the public found puzzling is the presence of many large State-owned enterprises (SOEs) as bidders at the auction. If the authorities are really serious about curbing property prices why were so many SOE representatives hiking the land price by bidding for it?