English Translation of Property Rights Law of the People’s Republic of China (2007): PART III: Usufructory Rights

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Click on "Read More" below to access Part III of Property Rights Law of the People’s Republic of China.

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PART III: USUFRUCTUARY RIGHTS

Chapter X General Stipulations

Article 117
The owner of the usufructuary right shall, within the extent permitted by law, enjoy the rights to possess, utilize and obtain profits from the real or movable properties owned by others.
Article 118
Institutions and individuals may occupy, utilize and obtain profits from such natural resources as owned by the State, or owned by the State while used by the collective and/or collectively-owned according to law.
Article 119
Unless otherwise provided by law, the State introduces the system of compensated use of natural resources.
Article 120
In exercising its rights, the owner of the usufructuary right shall abide by the regulations respecting the protection and reasonable exploration of the resources. The obligee may not intervene in the exercise of rights by the owner of the usufructuary right.
Article 121
Where the expropriation of the real or movable properties lead to the lapse of the usufructuary right or affect the exercise of the usufructuary right, the owner of the usufructuary right shall be entitled to gain relevant compensations pursuant to the provisions of Article 42 and 44 of this Law.
Article 122
The right to use the sea areas gained legally shall be protected by law.
Article 123
The right relating to mineral exploitation, mining, drawing water and the right to engage in aquaculture, fishing from inland waters and beaches obtained legally shall be protected by law.

Chapter XI Right to Land Contractual Management

Article 124
Rural collective economic organizations apply the dual operation system characterized by the combination of centralized operation with decentralized operation on the basis of operation by households under a contract.
Land contractual operation system shall be applied according to law in respect of farmlands, forestlands, grasslands collectively owned by peasants and land owned by the State but collectively used by peasants as well as other lands used for agricultural purpose.
Article 125
The contractor of the right to land contractual management shall enjoy the right to possess, utilize and obtain profits from the farmlands, forestlands and grasslands, and shall have the right to engage in such agricultural production as crop farming, forestry and animal husbandry.
Article 126
The contracted term of farmland shall be thirty years, thirty to fifty years for grassland and thirty to seventy years for forestland. The contracted term for forest land with special forests may be prolonged upon approval of the relevant competent forestry administration department of the State Council.
Where the contracted term provided in the preceding paragraph expires, the contractor of the right to land contractual management may continue the contract according to relevant provisions of the State.
Article 127
The right to land contractual management shall be established upon the effective date of the contract relating to the right to contractual land management.
The people’s government above county level shall issue to the contractor of the right to land contractual management the certificate of right to land contractual management, the forest management certificate, certificate(s) of the right to use grassland and register and record them, confirming the right to land contractual management.
Article 128
The contractor of the right to land contractual management shall be entitled to circulate such right by adopting such means as subcontract, exchange and assignment in accordance with the provision is of the Rural Land Contract Law. The circulated term may not exceed the remaining period of the contract term. The contracted land, without being approved in accordance with law, may not be used for purpose other than agricultural construction.
Article 128
Where the contractor of the right to land contractual management exchanges with others or assigns the right to land contractual management, the contractor shall, if required by parties concerned, apply for modification registration regarding the right to land contractual management with the people’s government above county level, and shall not be against bona fide third party if no such registration is conducted.
Article 130
The contract letting party may not adjust the land under contract within the contract term.
Where it is necessary to appropriately adjust the farm land and grassland in case that the contracted land is severely damaged by natural disaster, such adjustment shall be handled according to Rural Land Contract Law.
Article 131
The contract letting party shall not withdraw the contracted land within the contract term. If there are provisions otherwise provided for by Rural Land Contract Law, such provisions shall be observed.
Article 132
The contractor of the right to land contractual management shall, pursuant to the provisions of the 2nd paragraph of Article 42 of this Law, obtain the relevant compensations in the event of expropriation of its contracted land.
Article 133
With regard to such rural lands as wasteland contracted out by means of invitation to bid, auction, open consultation, the right to land contractual management shall be circulated by adopting such means as assignment, mortgage and ways otherwise according to Rural Land Contract Law and relevant regulations of the State Council.
Article 134
Where the State-owned farmland is contracted out for operation, relevant provisions of this Law shall apply.

Chapter XII Right to the Use of Construction Land

Article 135
The owner of the right to the use of land for construction use shall, according to law, be entitled to possess, utilize and obtain profits from the State-owned land, and have the right, by utilizing such land, to build buildings and their accessory facilities.
Article 136
The right to the use of land for construction use shall include right to the use of the land’s surface, ground or underground. The newly-established right to the use of land for construction use may not infringe upon the rights of already-established usufructuary right.
Article 137
The right to the use of land for construction use may be established by means of assignment or transfer.
Such operation lands as for industrial, commercial, tourism, entertainment and commercial use and one land with two or above intentional users shall be assigned by auction or invitation to bid.
The establishment of the right to the use of land for construction use by way of transfer is strictly restricted. Where the way of transfer is adopted, provisions relating to land use stipulated by laws, administrative regulations shall be observed.
Article 138
Where the right to the use of land for construction use is established by means of auction, invitation to bid and agreement, the parties concerned shall enter into a written contract on assignment of the right to the use of land for construction use.
The contract on assignment of the right to the use of land for construction use shall include the following terms:
(i) The names and domiciles of the parties concerned;
(ii) The location and size of the land;
(iii) The space occupied by the buildings, structures and the relevant accessory facilities;
(iv) The purpose of the land;
(v) The term of the use;
(vi) Such fees as the assignment fee and terms of payment;
(vii) Disputes resolution;
Article 139
The application for registration of the right to the use of land for construction use shall be filed with the registration departments. The right to the use of land for construction use shall be set up upon registration. The registration department shall issue to the owner of the right to the use of land for construction use the certificate of the right to the use of land for construction use.
Article 140
the owner of the right to the use of land for construction use shall in a reasonable way utilized the land and shall not change the purpose of the land; such change (if necessary) shall occur with the approval from relevant competent administrative department according to law.
Article 141
The owner of the right to the use of land for construction use shall pay such rates as assignment fee pursuant to relevant provisions provided for by law and the terms of the contract.
Article 142
The ownership of the building, structure and their accessory facilities built by the owner of the right to the use of land for construction use shall belong to such owner, unless there is evidence to the contrary sufficient to invalidate that.
Article 143
Except as otherwise provided for by law, the owner of the right to the use of land for construction use shall have the right to transfer, exchange, make as capital contribution, donate or mortgage the right to the use of land for construction use.
Article 144
Where the owner of the right to the use of land for construction use transfer, exchange, make as capital contribution, donate to others or mortgage the right to the use of land for construction use, the parties concerned shall enter into corresponding contract in writing. The term of such contract to be determined by parties concerned shall not exceed the remaining duration of the right to the use of land for construction use.

Article 145
Where the owner of the right to the use of land for construction use transfer, exchange, make as capital contribution, donate to others or mortgage the right to the use of land for construction use, application for modification registration shall be filed with the registration department.
Article 146
Where the right to the use of land for construction use is transferred, exchanged, made as a capital contribution or donated, the buildings, structures and their accessory facilities affiliated with such land shall be disposed of accordingly.
Article 147
Where the buildings, structures and their accessory facilities affiliated with a land for construction use is transferred, exchanged, made as a capital contribution or donated, the right to the use of such land for construction use as being occupied by such buildings, structure and their accessory facilities shall be disposed of accordingly.
Article 148
Where, prior to expiration of the term of the right to the use of land for construction use, it is necessary to retract such land for public interest, compensations shall be provided with regard to the houses and other real property built on the land pursuant to the provisions of Article 42 of this Law and the corresponding transfer fee shall be returned.
Article 149
The term of the right to the use of land for building houses shall automatically renewed upon expiration.
The term of the right to the use of land for non-house building purpose shall be renewed according to laws and regulations upon expiration. With regard to ownership of the houses built on the land and other real property related, relevant agreement (if any) shall be abided by, or, if there is no such agreement, the relevant provisions stipulated by law and administrative regulations shall be observed.
Article 150
The assignor shall, promptly upon lapse of the right to the use of land for construction use, proceed with the cancellation registration with the registration department that shall take back the certificate of the right to the use of land for construction use thereafter.
Article 151
Where the collectively-owned land is used for construction purpose, it shall be managed in accordance with such laws and regulations as the Law of Land Adeministration.

Chapter XIII Right to the use of the Residential Housing Land

Article 152
The owner of the right to the use of residential housing land shall enjoy the right to possess and utilize such land as collectively owned, and the right to build residential house and its accessory facilities on such land.
Article 153
Such laws as the Law of Land Administration and relevant regulations of the State shall be applicable to the attainment, exercise and assignment of the right to the use of residential housing land.
Article 154
The right to the use of residential housing land shall lapse accordingly in the event that such land is destroyed and lost due to natural disasters. New residential housing land shall be relocated to those villagers losing their residential housing land.
Article 155
Where the registered right to the use of the residential housing land lapses or is assigned,
modification or cancellation registration shall be handled in a timely manner.

Chapter XIV Easement

Article 156
The owner of easement shall have the right to improve the benefits of the real property of its own by utilization of real property of others according to terms of a contract.
The term “real property of others” as used in the preceding paragraph shall refer to the Land for Easement, and the “real property of its own” shall refer to the “Land Needing Easement”.
Article 157
To establish easement, the parties concerned shall enter into a written easement contract, the terms of which are as follows:
(i) The names or titles and domiciles of the parties concerned;
(ii) The location of the Land for Easement and the Land Needing Easement;
(iii) The purpose and methods with regard to the utilization of the Land for Easement;
(iv) The term for the utilization;
(v) Relevant fees and the terms of payment;
(vi) Disputes resolution.
Article 158
The easement shall be established upon the effective date of the easement contract. Where the parties concerned require registration, the application for easement registration may be filed with the registration departments; if no registration for easement is conducted, such easement shall not be against any bona fide third party.
Article 159
The obligee of the Land for Easement shall, in accordance with terms of the contract, allow the easement owner to utilize the land and may not prevent the easement owner from exercising relevant rights.
Article 160
The easement owner shall make use of the Land for Easement in conformity with the purpose and methods agreed upon in respect of the utilization of the Land for Easement and make reasonable efforts to reduce restriction upon the property rights of the obligee of the Land for Easement.
Article 161
The term of the easement to be decided by the parties concerned shall not exceed the remaining duration of the term of such usufructuary right as the right to land contractual management and to the use of land for construction use.
Article 162
Where the owner of the land who enjoys or burdens the easement establishes the right to land contractual management and/or the right to the use of residential housing land, the contractor of the land contractual management and/or the owner of the right to the use of the residential housing land shall continue enjoying or burdening the established easement.
Article 163
Where the right to land contractual management, the right to the use of land for construction use and/or the right to the use of residential housing land have been established, the owner of the land may not set up the easement without the consent from the owner of the usufructuary right.
Article 164
The easement may not be assigned alone. Except as otherwise agreed upon in the contract, along with the right to land contractual management, the right to the use of land for construction use, the easement shall be transferred accordingly according to law.
Article 165
The easement may not be mortgaged alone. Where the right to land contractual management and the right to the use of land for construction use is mortgaged, the easement shall be assigned accordingly upon the realization of such mortgage.
Article 166
Where part of the right to land contractual management and the right to the use of land for construction use of the Land Needing Easement are assigned and the assignment involves the easement, the assignee shall enjoy the easement.
Article 167
Where part of the right to land contractual management and the right to the use of land for construction use of the Land for Easement are assigned and the assignment involves the easement, the easement shall be abiding by the assignee.
Article 168
The obligee of the Land for Easement shall have the right to rescind the easement contract to give rise to lapse of such easement in case of any of the following on the part of the owner of the easement:
(i) Abusing the easement in violation of regulations provided by law or terms of the contract;
(ii) Failing to pay the fee after being reminded to make the payment twice within a reasonable time limit upon the expiration of the scheduled term for payment while utilizing the Land for Easement with charges.
Article 169
Modification or cancellation registration shall be handled promptly in case of modification, assignment or lapse of the registered easement.

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Table of Contents

Part I: GENERAL PROVISIONS

Part II: OWNERSHIP

Part III: USUFRUCTUARY RIGHTS

Part IV: SECURITY INTEREST IN PROPERTY RIGHTS

Part V: POSSESSION

English Translation of Property Rights Law of the People’s Republic of China (2007): PART II: General Provisions

If you have not already done so, please note the disclaimer on the introduction page to this post before reading.
Click on "Read More" below to access Part II of Property Rights Law of the People’s Republic of China.

Click Table of Contents for a bulleted outline of the details that can be found under each part of the recently passed law.

PART II: GENERAL PROVISIONS

Chapter IV General Stipulations

Article 39
The owner shall have the right to possess, utilize, dispose off and obtain profits from its real or movable property in accordance with the laws.
Article 40
The owner shall have the right to establish usufructuary and security right in property rights with regard to its real or movable property. The obligee of the usufructuary and security right shall not do harm to the rights and interests of the owner while exercising their own rights.
Article 41
No institute or individual shall be allowed to obtain the ownership of real or movable properties that are exclusively owned by the State in accordance with the laws.
Article 42
For the purpose of public interest, the collectively-owned land, houses and other real property owned by institutes or individuals may be expropriated in line with the procedure and within the authority provided by laws.
For expropriation of collectively-owned land, such fees shall be paid as compensations for the land expropriated, subsidies for resettlement, compensations for the fixtures and the young crops on land, and the premiums for social security of the farmers whose land is expropriated shall be allocated in full, in order to guarantee their normal lives and safeguard their lawful rights and interests.
Where houses and other real properties of institutes and individuals are expropriated, compensations for demolition and resettlement shall be paid according to law in order to maintain the legal rights and interests of the expropriated; where individual residential house is expropriated, the residential conditions of the expropriated shall be guaranteed.
No institution or individual shall withhold, misappropriate, embezzle or privately divide the compensation for expropriation.
Article 43
The State adopts special protection with regard to the agriculture land, strictly limiting the transfer of agriculture land to construction land so as to control the total quantity of the construction land. No expropriation of the collectively-owned land in violation of the authority and procedure prescribed by laws shall be allowed.
Article 44
For the purpose of emergency handling or disaster relief, real or movable properties of institutions or individuals may be expropriated in line with the procedure and within the authority provided by laws. After such use or expropriation, the real or movable properties shall be returned to the owner. Compensation shall be made if the real or movable properties of institutions or individuals were damaged or lost after being expropriated.

Chapter V State Ownership, Collective Ownership and Private Ownership

Article 45
With regard to the properties belong to the State according to law, they are owned by the State, that is, by the whole people.
The State of Council shall, on behalf of the State, exercise the ownership with respect to the State properties; if there are provisions otherwise provided, they shall be observed.
Article 46
The mineral resources, waters, sea areas are owned by the State.
Article 47
The urban lands are owned by the State. Such rural land and the land on the outskirt of the city as belonging to the State according to law shall be owned by the State.
Article 48
All natural resources such as forests, mountains, grassland, unclaimed land and beaches are owned by the State, with the exception of the resources that are collectively-owned in accordance with the law.
Article 49
Such wild animals and plants as belong to the State according to law shall be owned by the State.
Article 50
The radio spectrum resource shall be owned by the State.
Article 51
Such cultural relics as belong to the State according to law shall be owned by the State.
Article 52
The national defence resource shall be owned by the State.
Public facilities like railways, roads, electric power, communications and gas pipes that belong to the State in accordance with the law shall be owned by the State.
Article 53
The State organs shall have the right to possess, use and to dispose of the real or movable properties controlled directly by them in accordance with law and relevant regulations stipulated by the State Council.
Article 54
The institutions held by the State shall have the right to possess, use and obtain benefits from and dispose of the real or movable properties directly controlled by them according to law and relevant regulations stipulated by the State Council.
Article 55
Enterprises that are funded by the State, shall be the responsibility of the State Council, the local people’s governments, separately, and shall also enjoy the rights and interests of a capital contributor pursuant to laws and administrative regulations.
Article 56
The properties owned by the State shall be protected by law and shall not be occupied, privately divided, withheld, damaged by any institution and individual.
Article 57
The institution and its staff in charge of management and supervision of the State-own properties shall, in conformity with the laws, reinforce the administration, supervision of the State-owned properties, fostering the value saving and adding of the State properties and preventing them from being damnified.
Where losses are brought to the State-own properties as a result of malpractice and misusing of authority, the parties concerned shall bear relevant legal liabilities according to law. Where damnification is brought to the State-owned properties as a result of transfer at lower price, private partition, discretionary surety in breach of the regulations on administration of the State-own properties during the course of system reform, merger and division, connected transaction of the enterprises, the party concerned shall, pursuant to law, bear the relevant legal responsibilities.
Article 58
The collectively owned real and movable properties shall include:
(i) Lands, forests, mountains, grasslands, unclaimed land and beaches owned collectively according to law;
(ii) Buildings, production devices, cultivate land and water power facilities owned collectively;
(iii) Facilities with regard to education, science, culture, health and gymnasium collectively owned;
(iv) Other real and movable properties owned collectively.

Article 59
The real and movable properties which are collectively-owned by the urban collective shall be collectively owned by members of such collective.
Things stated below shall be decided collectively by the members of the respective collective in accordance with relevant legal procedure:
(i) The land contract scheme and subcontracting of the lands to institutions or individuals outside of this collective;
(ii) The adjustment of the contracted lands among contractor of the right to land contractual management; (iii) The utilization and distribution ways in respect of such fees as land compensations;
(iv) Such matters as changes of ownership of the enterprises whose capital is contributed by the collective;
(v) Other matters required by law.

Article 60
The exercise of the ownership of the collectively-owned lands, forests, mountains, grasslands, unclaimed land, beaches shall be in accordance with provisions as follows:
(i) As to those owned collectively by peasants of a village, the village’s collective economic organization or villagers’ committee shall, on behalf of the collective, exercise the ownership;
(ii) As to those owned collectively by two or more peasants of a village, the collective economic organizations or groups of villagers shall, on behalf of the collective, exercise the ownership;
(iii) As to those owned collectively by peasants of the townships (town), the collective economic organizations of the townships (town) shall, on behalf of the collective, exercise the ownership.
Article 61
With regard to the real and movable properties collectively-owned by the urban collective, this collective shall, according to laws and administrative regulations, enjoy the right to possess, utilize, dispose of and obtain benefit from such properties.
Article 62
The collective economic organization or villagers’ committee or village group shall, in light of the laws, administrative regulations, articles of association and rules of the village, make public to the collective members the status of the collectively owned properties.
Article 63
The collectively-owned properties shall be protected by law and shall not be occupied, privately divided, withheld, damaged by any institution and individual.
Where the decisions made by the collective economic organizations, villagers’ committee or other principals infringe upon the legal rights and interests of members of the collective, the infringed members may claim revocation of such decisions with the people’s court.
Article 64
An individual shall enjoy ownership with respect to such real and movable properties as legitimate income, houses, living goods, production tools and raw materials.
Article 65
The legal savings, investment and returns of individuals shall be protected by law.
The State shall protect the right of inheritance and other legal rights and interests of individual.
Article 66
The legitimate properties of individuals shall be protected by law and shall not be occupied and damaged by any institution and individual.
Article 67
The State, collective and individual may, according to law, make contributions to establish limited liability company, joint stock limited company or other enterprises. Where the real or movable properties of the State, collective and individual are made investment into the enterprise, the capital contributor shall, according to agreement or in proportion to its capital contribution, enjoy the right and fulfill the relevant obligation with regard to the lucre of the asset, major decision and designation of managerial staff of the business.

Article 68
The enterprise as a legal person shall have the right to possess, utilize, obtain benefit from and dispose of its real and movable properties in accordance with laws, administrative regulations and articles of association.
Legal person other than enterprise as a legal person shall have the right to its real and movable properties according to the provisions of relevant laws, administrative regulations and articles of association.
Article 69
The real and movable properties legally owned by social communities shall be protected by law.

Chapter VI Building Distinction Ownership of the Owner
Article 70
The owner shall enjoy the ownership in respect of such exclusive parts within the apartment building as the apartments for residential or commercial purposes, and the co-ownership and common management right with regard to jointly-owned parts other than the exclusive parts.
Article 71
The owner shall enjoy the right to possess, utilize, obtain profits from and dispose of the exclusive parts of the apartment building, provided that the exercise of its rights neither endangers the security of the apartment building, nor do harm to the legitimate rights and interests of other owners.
Article 72
The owner shall enjoy the rights and take on the obligation with respect to the jointly-owned parts other than the exclusive parts of the apartment building and may not flee from its obligation upon waiver of its rights.
Where the owner transfers its apartments of residential or commercial purpose within the apartment building, the co-ownership and the right of common management enjoyed by the owner with regard to the jointly-owned parts of the building shall be deemed to be transferred accordingly.
Article 73
The roads within the zoning of the apartment buildings shall be co-owned by the owners, with the exceptions of those belonging to urban public roads. The green fields within the zoning of the apartment buildings shall be co-owned by the owners, with the exceptions of those belonging to urban public green fields or individuals. Other public sites, facilities and rooms for realty service purpose shall be jointly owned by the owners.
Article 74
The parking lots and garages within the zoning of the apartment buildings shall firstly meet the demands of the owners. The ownership of the parking lots and garages within the zoning of the apartment buildings shall be decided via such means as selling, donation or leasing by the party concerned.
The parking lots occupying the co-owned roads of the owners or located at other sites shall be jointly owned by the owners.
Article 75
The owner my establish the owners’ meeting and elect the owners’ committee.
The local people’s governments shall provide instructions and assistance with regard to the establishment of the owners’ meeting or the election of the owners’ committee.
Article 76
The owners shall, in accordance with law, decide matters as Stated below:
(i) The constitution and modification of the rules of the procedure for the owners’ meeting;
(ii) The constitution and modification of the management regulations with regard to the apartment buildings and their accessory facilities;
(iii) Election and changing of the member of the owners’ committee;
(iv) Employment and dismissal of the realty service organizations or other managerial personnel;
(v) Raising and utilization of the funds pertaining to the maintenance of the buildings and their accessory facilities;
(vi) Repairing, reconstructing, rebuilding the buildings and their accessory facilities;
(vii) Other major and important events with regard to the co-ownership and right of common management.
The decision with regard to matters provided in item 5 and item 6 of the foregoing paragraph shall be made with the consent from owners whose exclusive parts account for over two-thirds of the gross area of the apartment buildings and whose number accounts for over two-thirds of the total number of the owners. The decisions made with regard to other matters of the foregoing paragraph shall be made with the consent from owners whose exclusive parts accounts for over half of the gross area of the apartment buildings and whose number accounts for over half of the total number of the owners.
Article 77
The owner may not, in violation of the laws, regulations and management rules, change the residential apartment into apartment for commercial purpose. The owner must, in addition to observing laws, regulations and the management rules, obtain consent from the owners in interest before turning the apartment into apartment for commercial purpose.
Article 78
The decision made by the owners’ meeting or committee shall be binding upon the owners.
Where the decision made by the owners’ meeting or committee infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of the owner, the infringed owner may apply for cancellation with the people’s court.
Article 79
The maintenance funds for the apartment building and its accessory facilities shall be co-owned by all owners and be used for the maintenance of such community spaces as elevators and water tanks. Status quo with regard to raising and use of the maintenance funds shall be made public.
Article 80
The fee apportionment and profits distribution of the apartment building and its accessory facilities shall be in accordance with relevant provisions (if any), or shall be determined in proportion to the exclusive parts possessed by the owners if there is not any or expressly-Stated provisions.
Article 81
The owners may, at their own discretion, either manage the building and its accessory facilities by themselves or realty-services company or other managerial personnel entrusted by the owners.
The owners shall have the right to make changes with regard to the realty management company or other managerial personnel employed by the construction entity.
Article 82
The realty management company or other managerial personnel shall, in accordance with the entrustment of the owners, manage the apartment building and its accessory facilities within the zoning of the apartment buildings and accept the supervision from the owners.
Article 83
The owners shall abide by laws, regulations and the management provisions stipulated by the owners’ meeting.
The owners’ meeting and committee shall have the right to request the parties concerned to stop infringement, get rid of the effect, remove impediment and make compensations with regard to such actions that impairing the legal rights and interests of others as willful throwing away of the garbage, possession of the passageways, release of sources of air pollution, making noises, raising animals in breach of regulations, construction in violation of rules and refusal to pay the realty management fee. The owner may, in accordance with laws, bring a lawsuit with the people’s court in respect of such actions as infringing its own legitimate rights and interests.

Chapter VII Neighborhood Relationship

Article 84
In the spirit of providing convenience for production, life of the people, enhancing unity and mutual assistance, and being fair and reasonable, neighboring users of the real property shall maintain proper neighborhood relationship.
Article 85
The handling of neighborhood relationship shall be in accordance with relevant provisions stipulated by laws and regulations (if any) or the local practice if there is no such provision stipulated by laws and regulations.
Article 86
The obligee of the real property shall provide necessary convenience to its neighboring user with regard to water supply and drainage.
The natural running water shall be reasonably distributed among the neighboring users of the real property and shall be drained in accordance with the natural running direction.
Article 87
The obligee of the real property shall offer necessary convenience for its neighboring user who has to use the obligee’s land for passage.
Article 88
In the event that the obligee of the real property has to use the neighboring lands or buildings for construction or repairing the buildings and installation of wire lines, electric cables, pipe lines, heating and gas pipes, the obligee of such lands or buildings shall provide necessary convenience.
Article 89
The construction of buildings shall abide by relevant provisions stipulated by the State with regard to the construction planning and shall not affect the ventilation, sightseeing and lighting of the neighboring buildings.
Article 90
The obligee of the real property may not, in violation of laws of the State, release gas polluters, water polluters, solid waste and discharging such harmful objects as noises, lights, magnetic wave radiation.
Article 91
The obligee of the real property may not endanger the security of the neighboring real property while digging the land, constructing the buildings, laying the pipes and lines and installing the equipments; the obligee of the neighboring real property shall have the right to request the obligee of the real property under construction to provide relevant guarantee.
Article 92
The obligee of the real property shall, while making use of the neighboring real property usage of water supply, drainage, traffic and installation of pipes and lines, make every effort not to do harm to the obligee’s neighbors, and shall make appropriate compensations in case of any damages arising therefrom.

Chapter VIII Joint ownership

Article 93
The real or movable property may be owned jointly by two or more institutions or individuals. There are two kinds of joint ownership, namely co-ownership by proportion and common ownership.
Article 94
Each of the co-owners by shares shall enjoy the ownership in respect of the joint real or movable property in proportion to its share.
Article 95
Each of the common owners shall enjoy the ownership in respect of the joint real or movable property.
Article 96
The co-owners shall carry out management with regard to the real or movable property in accordance with relevant agreement; each of the co-owners shall enjoy the rights and assume the obligations respecting the management of the joint property.
Article 97
Unless otherwise agreed by the co-owners, the disposal of and major and big repairing with regard to the co-owned real or movable property shall be conducted with the consent from the co-owners by shares whose shares account for two-thirds of the total shares or from the entire co-owners.
Article 98
The management fee and other charges for the joint property shall be in accordance with relevant agreement (if any); if there is no any or expressly-Stated agreement thereof, the co-owners by shares shall bear the relevant responsibility in proportion to his shares while the common owners shall jointly bear the relevant responsibility.
Article 99
Where the co-owners reach an agreement that no partition in respect of the joint real or movable property shall be conducted in order to maintain the co-ownership relations, such agreement shall be observed; however, if the co-owners desire to divide the joint property for important reasons, the co-owners may make such a claim. If there is no such or express agreement respecting the partition, the co-owners by shares may at any time require the partition; the common owners may require partition in the event that the foundation for joint ownership perishes or there are important reasons for such partition. Where the partition results in damages to other co-owners, relevant remedies shall be made.
Article 100
The co-owners shall determine the methods for partition through consultation. Where, if no agreement can be reached, the real or movable property may be divided and, what’s more, will not be devaluated due to the partition, the practicality shall be divided; where the joint property is difficult to be divided or may be devaluated due to the partition, partition can be carried out with regard to the payment obtained as a result of the auction, sale of the joint property or make relevant reimbursement of the estimated price respecting the joint property.
As for any flawed real or movable property gained by any co-owner from the division, the other co-owners shall share losses arising therefrom.
Article 101
Each co-owner by shares shall have the right to transfer the joint real property he owned or his own shares of the real property. When he offers to sell his share, the other co-owners shall have a right of pre-emption if all other conditions are equal.
Article 102
For public purposes, the co-owners shall, enjoy the joint creditor’s right and bear the joint liability with regard to creditor’s rights and debts occurring from the joint real or movable property, unless otherwise provided by law or there is a third party who is aware that the co-owners shall not bear the joint creditor’s rights or joint debts. In internal, except as otherwise agreed upon by the co-owners, each of the co-owners by shares shall enjoy the creditor’s rights and bear the relevant debt in proportion to his shares and each of the common co-owners shall jointly enjoy the creditor’s rights and bear the relevant debts. The co-owner by shares who repays debts over its due shall be entitled to a recourse to other co-owners.
Article 103
In case that there is no agreement, express or implied, on whether it is ownership by shares or common ownership with respect to the joint real or movable property among the co-owners, the co-owners shall be deemed as co-owners by shares, with the exception that there exists a family relations among the co-owners.
Article 104
The shares enjoyed by the co-owners by shares with regard to the joint real or movable property shall, if there is no or express agreement hereon, be decided in proportion to the capital contribution of the co-owners, if no such proportion of capital contribution may be specified, shall be construed as equal.
Article 105
Where usufructuary or security property right is jointly owned by two or more institutions or individuals, the provisions of this Chapter shall apply.

Chapter IX Special Regulations pertaining to Attainment of the Ownership

Article 106
Where the real or movable property is transferred to a transferee by a person without the power to do so, the rightful owner shall have the right to recover such property. Unless otherwise provided by law, the transferee shall obtain the ownership respecting such real or movable property in any of the following events:
(i) The Transferee accepts the transfer in a bona fide;
(ii) Such property is transferred with a reasonable price;
(iii) The transferred property has been registered in accordance with the laws requiring such registration, and those not required to be registered has been delivered to the transferee.
Where the transferee has obtained the ownership in respect of the real or movable property in accordance with the preceding paragraph, the original holder of the right shall enjoy the right to claim damages to the non-holder of the right to dispose of the property.
Where the parties concerned have obtained the other property rights in good faith, the above two paragraphs shall apply.
Article 107
The rightful owner or such other obligee shall have the right to claim and recover properties so stolen, robbed or lost. Where such movable property has been transferred or possessed by others through transfer, such obligee as the holder or the owner of the lost property shall have the right to claim damages against the non-holder of the right to dispose of such property. Where, if such obligee as the holder or the owner of the lost property claim the property within two (2) years from the date on which he knows or should know the loss of such movable property, the transferee has purchased such property through auction or from an operator with the operation qualification, such obligee as the holder shall pay the transferee the amount the latter one has paid for repossession of the same. Where there are regulations stipulated otherwise by law, such regulations shall be observed.
Article 108
The original rights in the movable property shall lapse upon the attainment of such movable property by the bona fide assignee, except that the bona fide assignee know or should know such rights.
Article 109
The lost property shall be returned to the obligee once being picked up. The person who picks up the lost property shall notify the obligee of such lost the property to take it back or submit it to the public security department.
Article 110
Where the departments concerned receiving the lost property shall, if knowing the obligee or person who lost the property, notify them to take the property back in a timely manner; if not, the person who collected the lost property, shall issue a Lost Property notice in a timely manner.
Article 111
The lost property shall be appropriately kept by the person picking up the property before being submitted to the departments concerned or by departments concerned before being taken back. Where damages or lapse occur to the lost property as a result of deliberate or serious negligence, the parties concerned shall bear relevant civil liabilities.
Article 112
When taking back the lost property, the obligee shall pay such necessary fees as safekeeping fee regarding the lost property to the person picking up such property or departments concerned.
The obligee shall pay the person picking up the property such reward as it has offered while looking for the property.
Where the person picking up the lost property misappropriates such property, the person shall neither have the right to claim such necessary fees as safekeeping fee and reward nor to require the obligee to perform such obligations as the obligee has promised to do.
Article 113
The lost property shall, if not claimed within six months as of the date of issuance of the Lost Property notice, be owned by the State.
Article 114
Where items are picked up from drift, buried or the hidden are discovered, relevant regulations with regard to picking up of the lost property shall apply. Where there are provisions stipulated otherwise in the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics, such provisions shall be observed.

Article 115
Where the principal property is transferred, the affiliated ones shall be transferred accordingly, except as otherwise provided among parties concerned.
Article 116
The natural benefits shall be obtained by the title holder of such properties; where there are both the title holder and owner of the usufructuary right to the natural benefits, the property shall be owned by the owner of the usufructuary right, where there are agreements separately made by parties concerned, such agreements shall be observed.
The legal interests shall be obtained in accordance with relevant agreement between parties concerned (if any); if there is no such or express agreement, the transaction practice shall apply.
Go to:

Table of Contents

Part I: GENERAL PROVISIONS

Part II: OWNERSHIP

Part III: USUFRUCTUARY RIGHTS

Part IV: SECURITY INTEREST IN PROPERTY RIGHTS

Part V: POSSESSION

Retail Traders and Investors get Fleeced by Humongous Banks and Brokers: JPMorgan and BofA Sell High, Buy VERY Low, Sell High Again in Mere Minutes

Thursday's market meltdown and ensuing rally, all of which took place in a matter of 8 minutes will go down as one of the most unethical fleecings of retail investors/traders by the HB&B's ("Humongous Bank & Brokers") in history. Thanks in part (at the least) to high frequency trading algorithms (more about HFT below), between 2:40 and 2:48pm on Thursday May 6, 2010, the S&P500, already down 2% on the day, dropped an additional 6.1%, before dramatically rebounding right back to where it was before the collapse. Of course, the media (namely, CNBC), very quickly (within 2 minutes of this collapse and rebound) came out with "the explanation," that "someone had fat fingers at one of the trading firms, and entered a 'b' for billion instead of an 'm' for million." Give me a break! (See CitiBank Fat Finger, or Stock Sell off May Have Been Triggered by a Trader Error; there are hundreds of additional sources online, just google "fat finger sell-off". Several hours later, conflicting reports out of Fox, SmartMoney, and even CNBC, the source of the original "explanation" came out: Obama Administration Source: 'Fat Finger' Error Didn't Trigger Thursday Selloff and 'Fat Finger' Trigger May be a Myth. ) Again, there are myriad sources that argue in opposition to what I personally believe is an incredibly lame excuse that a single trade at one of the HB&Bs triggered more than $1 Trillion worth of losses and gains in less than 10 minutes (it took 4 minutes for the market to drop and another 4-5 minutes for the market to bounce back to where it was before the meteorite struck).

It is undeniable, however, who benefited the most from this "freak" event. I have managed to get my hands on twenty-five minutes of audio from the NYSE stock trading floor before, during, and after this 8 minute period, which I believe sheds some light on what really happened during the aforementioned time period (nothing short of grand larceny). At the very least, it shows who bought at the absolute nadir of the collapse (Dow -928 points) and sold once the market "returned to normalcy" (Dow -300 points). It gets really interesting just before the halfway point in the audio clip when the anonymous reporter yells: "This will blow people out in a big way like you won't even believe."

Many believe--myself included--that the market does not have the fundamental foundation to support being where it is right now and that it is only at such levels because High Frequency Trading (HFT) or algorithmic trading on the part of hedge funds and the HB&B's have artificially moved it higher taking both the bid and ask prices up in fractional increments so fast that true supply and demand pivots cannot be calculated. In other words, up until several years ago, large stock market transactions required a person to stand up and bid for a certain amount of stock at a particular price and then do the opposite if and when that person or entity was ready to sell. Now, however, with computer trading comes the ability to create a trading algorithm that would trade in place of the person behind the trading account by taking advantage of so-called "inefficiencies" in the market place. This works wonderfully (for the hedge fund behind the computer) when other (mostly retail) investors and traders are willing and able to take the other side of that trade; indeed, it is extremely lucrative under such conditions, which is why when the market is acting "rationally" the HB&Bs are able to rake in the profits. However, when a political or economic event suddenly makes it difficult or impossible to gauge an intrinsic value for the market (the BP oil spill in the Gulf, the uncertainty surrounding Greece's debt problems in the Euro Zone, and the Financial Reform legislation taking place on Capital Hill all qualify) these computer algorithms do not have a counter party to take the other side of their trade and since they are programmed to figure out where inconsistencies exist based on the next bid, they start pounding the market price down until a bid is reached, no matter how far that bid may be. Before HFT, the market would simply have stalled momentarily while the persons behind the trades thought about what was a reasonable bid and ask spread. That moment of reason does not exist with HFT and since it all happens so fast, the market can very easily and quickly feed on itself, igniting fierce downward pressure in market prices that essentially force everyone involved to reevaluate appropriate market valuations. Well, I believe that is partially what happened on Thursday. But wouldn't you know who was available to buy at the exact bottom of this downward spiral, which coincidentally was a few fractions of a percentage points away from the circuit breaker trigger (10% loss) that would have shut down the market for the day: that's right, the proprietary trading desks of JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch (now owned by Bank of America). Just listen to the audio to hear it yourself--note that the recording cracks at various points because of the excitement of the environment. Just keep listening, it comes back.

Computers do what they are programmed to do, and nothing more. If the algorithm behind the trades incorrectly assumes that trading conditions or environments do not change, and therfore does not compensate for "panic" scenarios that inevitably happen in the stock market from time to time, the end result can be catastrophic because the permissions and controls have already been provided to the computer. If you are interested in learning about and discussing the perils of high frequency trading, I highly recommend this prescient post HFT: The High Frequency Trading Scam, by Karl Denninger, which was published on Seeking Alpha two weeks ago.

For those who know what a stop-loss order is, suffice it to say that pretty much every stop order that had been placed prior to this event was hit. For those who do not know what a stop-loss order is, essentially what it amounts to is a great number of individual traders and investors were forced to sell at very low prices, which only became trades in the first place because the algorithms were instructed to "find the next lowest price"--period. Furthermore, it happened so fast that those who were bright enough to figure out what was happening did not have enough time to react.


UPDATE Sunday May 9, 2010: A plethora of news syndicates have finally reached past the implausible "fat-finger" excuse and are actually doing some critical thinking into the matter. Fortune Magazine Online just published an article dissecting what they believe are the most likely possibilities for cause of the flash crash of May 6th, but only after first reiterating my thoughts above:

The fat finger. Plausible, but very unlikely. Typing in billions with a "b" versus millions with an "m" seems impossible. Trading systems don't work that way. More likely, the trading system accepts the sell/buy amount in thousands. Some trader in the heat of the moment forgets it's in thousands, types in an order for 16,000,000 instead of 16,000. That kind of thing seems far more plausible.

Check out the article for more.

Another one bites the dust: credit card companies stealing your credit score

I'm sure many of you have heard of or been affected by the credit card companies slashing credit indiscriminately in order to clean up their balance sheets. In fact, they have been doing so in a rather coordinated way since 2007 when this financial mess hit the fans (see graph below). Of course, that's exactly what they should do, since it is we, the consumers, that are to blame for this mess and not the bankers and predatory lenders who specifically sought to sell mortgages to under-qualified borrowers at a time when home prices had reached such exorbitant price levels that qualified buyers were no longer interested. Three years have passed since we ventured into this mess until finally we have reached the blame-casting stage of this game. Unfortunately none of the political or "bankstah" rhetoric comes remotely close to helping solve the real problems that plagued--and continue to plague--the real economy (and the banks tangible balance sheets). I have recently been forced into a situation that permits me to speak knowingly from one perspective and therefore to showcase at least one very negative result (or side effect) of this crisis that will necessarily have long-term ramifications for this country, its economy, and most certainly its middle class.

On April 19th, 2010, I received a letter from Citibank, explaining that:

"a routine review of your account activity shows that you have not used your Citi Account for and extended period of time. We are sorry if this card has not met your needs. Due to prior inactivity, your account will be closed on May 13, 2010. Use of this card between now and the date listed will not enable us to revers this decision and your account will still be closed. We appreciate your business." blah blah blah.

Now, on the surface it seems pretty straight forward: you have been extended credit; you don't use that credit; when we extend credit to someone we have to take a hit on paper in terms of liabilities; therefore, since you haven't used your credit card we are going to remove the liability from our balance sheet.

Okay fine. But what they don't tell you is, A) I have had this account since 1999--yup, 11 years! B) I have never once had a late or missed payment in those 11 years. C) I have a credit rating of 790. D)Here's a crucial one--I tried to cancel this account 3 times (2001, 2003, 2004) with each attempt being met with incredible pitches aimed at keeping my business. Each time, the one that won me over was, "sir, you have been a customer with us for quite some time and you have an excellent credit history with us. If you cancel your account you will lose those years of credit history unless you have another card that you have had longer.

I did not, in fact, have any cards longer than this one. The truth was, this credit card is my Student Associates Bank Credit Card. It was my very first credit of any kind and it came with a measly $400 credit line. The selling point for the card was that every 6 months if the card was in good standing, the customer could request a credit line increase without a credit report being pulled. The automatic credit line increases were incremental, but perfect for a student starting out in the world with no credit to his/her name. Well 11 years later, I have worked that card up to a credit line of $7,600. I only use it when my next oldest credit card, an Amex card that gives me 5% cash back, isn't accepted. Well, during the past few years--which coincides with the financial chaos that has ensued--I haven't used my credit cards as much. Why? Well, because that was what we were instructed to do, by our President, by our media, and by the true head Chieftain, Dr. Common Sense.

Does that mean I don't care about this credit card? No, absolutely not. Does that mean I'm a credit risk, or that my credit score should take a 50-60 point hit because Citibank decides after all this time, that I no longer need the credit. Emphatically, No! One does not get a credit card for the singular and linear purpose that they want to max out the dang card and pay 31% interest. In fact, the credit card banks business model depends as much on the good credit risk customers as it does the bad credit risk customers. Those with higher risk profiles end up paying the company directly at such high rates that even if they default the Credit Card company still ends up making a profit on the whole (at 30% interest, it doesn't take long to earn a profit). On the other hand, those with extremely low risk profiles would become part of CC bank's other revenue stream, i.e. the merchants' fees that get paid as a right to accept the much easier to deal with credit cards of their customers. There is another angle on this (those who keep the card as an emergency or back up card), but it is tangential, so I will ignore it for now.

So, then, once again, it makes sense that the credit card company would want to remove individuals from the system that are not positively impacting their major revenue streams, especially when they have Uncle Sam breathing down their necks to raise the share price of their stock in order that they might sell it at inflated prices so that they can report back to the people that the "bailout" was actually an investment. In any case, as far as the Credit Card is concerned the formula works like this: remove liabilities from the deficit side of the balance sheet--regardless if its low risk and harmless to the actual business model long term--as it makes the bottom line appear much more healthy than it was before. In reality, what really just happened--at least in my case--is that they just pissed off a dormant but very happy customer of 11 years with an incredible credit history who never thought negatively towards the Citigroup/Citibank brand. How is that going to help the longer-term health of the company? I'll let you decide.

Now my real beef with this whole thing is that I never even got a warning. They never sent me an email or a letter explaining, if you do not start using your card we may be forced to retract the credit we have offered you. Furthermore, contrary to what they wrote in the letter, this wasn't an indiscriminate routine review. How do I know this? Well, for one my fiance, who has the same card, received the same letter the same day. (She too has a great credit history and score). My brother, who lives in an entirely different state, also received this same letter on the same day. Lastly, and this was what led me to write this post, from chat rooms and other blogosphere interactions I gather that a whole lot of people, specifically with very high credit scores received similar letters from many banks during the past several weeks.

The ultimate point of the post can be extrapolated from the graph below (click to enlarge):




As the graph from my favorite blog Calculated Risk shows, this trend has been well underway for a very long time and had just recently begun to subside. Looking at the chart, it appears that although low, we are at a point at which we might expect the trend to reverse. On the contrary, however, a whole new wave of credit has just been or is scheduled to be removed from the system that has yet to be reflected in the chart.


In the most recent Federal Reserve Report, the Chairman explains:

Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 5-1/2 percent in February 2010. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of
13 percent, and nonrevolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 1-1/2 percent.

The report goes on to imply likely stabilization. I don't buy in. Indeed, my knowledge of business and real-life experience tells me three very important things as a result of these actions: First, the banks are definitely not as healthy as they portend since they are kicking out their VIP's in order to mask their balance sheets. Secondly, the net result of this whole escapade is that a great deal of people who really need credit to get past this "bump in the road" or those who are doing alright but whom were potentially about to make a large and important purchase are going to be unable to navigate the waters for a long time as their bearings get messed with from the sidelines. I, for example am saving up for a home right now (and have been for 5 years). I'm just shy of a 20% down payment for the kind of home I'd like to buy. However, this reduction in available credit will affect not only my credit history, but also my debt to credit ratio, two crucial components to the rate that the banks will expect me to pay. This rate, in turn, could very potentially effect the available funds I might be able to procure. Lastly, with residential construction spending still at abysmal levels, and the termination of the Federal Home Buyers Tax Credit set to negatively impact demand for existing home inventory moving forward, now is not a good time to be chipping away at the credit scores of responsible borrowers; they are categorized as "responsible" for a reason. This "recovery" is going to need all the help it can get from the consumer. Yet, all consumers seem to be having the punch bowl taken away from them regardless of whether or not he or she has had too much to drink. Therefore, how can any kind of consumer spending recovery take hold? (for those that don't know, roughly 70% of US GDP since WWII comes from consumer spending).

Those concerned with inflation, although a very real concern that I plan to discuss in a later post, must also consider the alternative when so much spending power is being sucked out of the system so indiscriminately and "routinely." I realize that banking reform and the Consumer Credit Protection Act was enacted with good intentions, but just because the shoulder shove that put you on your a$$ was intended to be a love tap, it doesn't ensure that you're not bruised as a result. Intentions only matter to a point.

South Park, Freedom of Speech, and Bigotry

Well, it finally happened. A post about South Park has made it onto the Spoon pages. God help us all. I kid, I kid. I'm a big fan of the show, actually. And it's not just a TV show, as Matt Stone and Trey Parker frequently make strong political commentary on the cartoon, albeit without a clear angle - which is probably a good thing. Well, South Park has been in the news the past two weeks because of their depiction (sort of) of Prophet Muhammad on the show. In response, a group called Revolution Muslim threatened Stone and Parker. Comedy Central decided to massively censor the second of two episodes (bleeping out every mention of the name of the Prophet, putting a giant black censor bar over him on the show, and essentially bleeping out the concluding speeches in the episode - which apparently were about the dangers of fear), and then didn't rerun the censored episode, nor put it up on the website. In response, many have come down angrily on Comedy Central. Jon Stewart went off on the Daily Show about it. The Simpsons shouted out South Park. A lot of people are very pissed.

And they have a right to be. Sort of. Revolution Islam is apparently a fringe group of only a few deluded and misguided people. More people join groups on facebook to pray for President Obama's death than this group. So, yeah, not really a threat.

Now, were Muslims going to be angry about this episode? Sure. As is now commonly known, thanks to the Danish cartoons of a few years ago, depictions of Prophet Muhammad are not allowed in Islam. The response to those cartoons drew a lot of attention in the West...people couldn't understand why Muslims were burning foreign businesses in response to a cartoon. Don't they value freedom of speech? Is their culture so backwards? More about this in a second.

First, though, the episodes. So, Stone and Parker had some fun with this, putting the Prophet in a bear costume so as not to have him seen (and, thus, avoiding some crazy response in the town of South Park by Muslims if the Prophet was actually revealed). The episodes are premised on the fact that other ridiculed groups want to get the Prophet's secret for not being able to be mocked. In the second of the two episodes, as I mentioned earlier, the Prophet is shown, but Comedy Central put a big black censored box over him, bleeped every reference to him out, and bleeped out more or less the entire last minute of the show, where the kids talk about the danger of fear-based actions.

The root of the issue here is the Danish cartoons and the response by Muslims throughout the world to them. So, the cartoons first. I saw them. Some of them were simply aiming to have a little fun. I don't get why they decided to depict Prophet Muhammad to do that, though. People get bent out of shape about the fact that Muslims get angry about depictions of the Prophet (and actually, all the prophets they believe in, including Moses, Jesus, and Abraham). Here's the thing...if you have a problem with Muslims, go after Muslims, not these figures. If you know something is forbidden and considered offensive to a group of people, why unnecessarily go after it, unless that itself is the source of the problem? I really doubt drawing a cartoon of Muhammad is really a central source of conflict. So the whole premise behind the need to be allowed to draw him makes no sense.

Now, that's just stupidity, but not something to get that pissed about. The real issue at hand is that some of the cartoons were quite bigoted, especially the one with Muhammad wearing a turban with a bomb fuse lit and a sinister glare. There's no getting around it...the cartoon is pretty racist. It says Muhammad was a terrorist and insinuates that Muslims are terrorists. They can try to talk their way around it, but it's pretty obvious what the point was. That's really the cartoon that should have provoked outrage, particularly because of the hypocrisy about it. The same Danish paper rejected cartoons about Jesus a few years earlier because they were thought to be offensive and not funny. So, offensive Muhammad cartoons generalizing about Muslims in a terrible way were fine, but not those about Jesus. Great.

Fact is, both should have been rejected, or both should have been run. I actually lean towards rejection, not because of freedom of speech, but because freedom of speech doesn't mean you should use that freedom to be a bigot. Or...they should have both been printed, but people should have been willing to condemn them while not attacking the press' freedom for bigotry.

About the Muslim backlash...here's the thing. To understand it, you have to actually spend a few minutes understanding politics in the Muslim world. So, first of all, the obvious point - people are much poorer, and have less access to education in these countries. That is a simple fact. When you have lower levels of education, you are less able to discern appropriate from crazy. The appropriate response would have been for Muslims to organize protests against the cartoons, for their bigotry. For instance, insist that their governments refuse to sell oil to Denmark until the government rightfully condemns the cartoons as racist. That doesn't mean they get pulled, just that they acknowledge the cartoons (at least some of them) were flat out racist. This could mean refusing to buy any goods coming from Denmark - whatever those are. Pastry, maybe? This could mean refusing to sell them oil.

Violent actions against the West in general, along with threats of violence, are not okay, though. That is going to far, which is the response many Muslims resorted to. A big reason - they just don't have the level of education that would have probably would have steered them away from violence.

Now, the education factor isn't the only problem. There's the whole "blowing off steam" issue. Most of the governments in the Muslim world are not democratic. The West props up many, if not all, of them. These governments often suppress dissent amongst the populace. However, as a wide amount of research has shown, these regimes do allow controlled dissent. They, in fact, encourage it, because it lets the people blow off steam, but not at the government. So, what these regimes often do is stir up the pot, encouraging/enabling/openly supporting public dissent targeted at some non-government entity. This shores up support for the regime ("they're on our side on this issue"). In the case of the Danish cartoons, the autocratic regimes were more than happy to encourage unrest against the depiction of Muhammad. And, not surprisingly, they didn't encourage a more sophisticated form of dissent, like objecting specifically to the bigoted nature of some of the cartoons, or backing a more open political challenge, like challenging the Danish via limiting trade, limiting oil supply, etc. until they at least acknowledged the troubling aspects of the cartoons.

Hence, the mob mentality. A populace with limited education, regimes stirring up the pot without giving any political objectives (and using it to shore up support), and then many Western countries throwing the "freedom of speech" flag to cover the obvious racist nature of the cartoons themselves. It's no wonder things got so crazy.

That's a more full picture of the cartoon controversy. It's not that Muslims are so backwards that they can't take a joke. It's that there were a number of factors in play. Yes, the reaction was problematic. Violent protests in Pakistan don't accomplish much. However, the "politics for dummies" version of the issue doesn't help, either. It's not an essentialist issue. It's more complicated than that.

So, instead of looking at the cartoon issue in light of the bigotry, the politics of manufactured dissent from autocratic (or autocratic-like) regimes, and the issue of poor education systems, we get the "Muslims are crazy" arguments and knee-jerk free speech defenses. It's not that parts of any of the arguments are wrong, it's that none of them are correct by themselves.

So, yeah, South Park. No, it shouldn't have been censored. Freedom of speech is important, and just because a tiny group puts out a death threat, that doesn't mean you cave. But, like most everyone in the West, South Park interpreted the Danish cartoon issue like fifth graders. Look, its a cartoon show, I don't expect them to provide context about the issue - that's the media's job (which they, not shockingly, have failed at). But, they didn't have to simplify it so much.

The depictions of Prophet Muhammad, and the angry responses to it, are not just about freedom of speech. Yes, Muslims responded in an unproductive way - if you lack any context, sure, it looks insane. They bear plenty of blame. But so do the racists at the Danish paper, the leaders in Denmark who enabled the bigotry, the authoritarian-like leaders in the Muslim countries who stirred the pot, and the press, who painted it as a black-and-white issue.

So South Park, I 'ain't mad at ya. I am a little disappointed, though - you guys are smarter than that. You played into the super-simplistic version of the problem. But you're not the real issue here.