China is even worse than America for local officials stealing land for their own use.
Chinese are not allowed to own property in China. The Communist Party owns it all. If Chinese want to own property, they come to America to buy it. They already own the old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. ;)
In 2004, the fourth amendment to the constitution was made. Article 13 of the constitution provided that: "The lawful private property of citizens shall be inviolable. The country shall protect in accordance with law citizens' private property rights and inheritance rights. The country may, as necessitated by public interest, expropriate or requisition citizens' private property and pay compensation therefor." It can thus be seen that China's property laws have been undergoing developments. The most recent development would be the enactment of the Property Law in March 2007 (after 14 years of debates), which is noted as one of the most important core components of the evolving civil law in the PRC.
In general, rural collectives own agricultural land and the state owns urban land. However, Article 70 of The Property Law allows for ownership of exclusive parts within an apartment building, which endorses the individual ownership of apartments.