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Looks at the allocation of land for specific purposes in the integrated land use plans that have come into effect across China since 1998..The paper: presents an analysis of the development of policies on national land use planning since the promulgation of the first Land Law in 1986. draws on fieldwork data collected in Taicang municipality/county, southern Jiangsu in early 2001 in order to compare the national picture with the role that land has played in policies and practices of economic development there at the county, township and village levels.The paper concludes that uniform national land use policies do not work. Proscribing land use for non-agricultural purposes is arguably vital as a form of social welfare to guarantee the livelihood of the rural population in poorer areas that rely mainly on subsistence agriculture, but hamstrings the development of highly commercialised areas such as Taicang.