The Communist Chinese government agreed to a major land reform that it thought to shape the country’s economic policy for years to come.

Although details about the package approved by the country’s communist regime are unknown it is thought to enable farmers to transfer or rent (parts of) their land more easily.

“The Communist Party of China Central Committee on Sunday approved a decision on major issues concerning rural reform and development,” Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

Its report added that “[t]he global credit crisis freezing up the world’s finances may be a blessing in disguise for China as it aims to modify its economic structure after three decades of breakneck growth.”

Analysts believe the package to potentially be the most important economic reform in three decades in the communist country.

When communist leader Mao came to power, he reformed the country’s economy tremendously. He started a massive revolution in every area of life. These reforms had a tremendous impact on the country. Thirty years ago, the government (after Mao’s death) broke up massive communal farms and allowed families to ‘farm their land under 30-year government contracts.’

These family owned farms, however, are small, making it hard if not impossible ‘to run the farms profitably.’

In order to make a profit ‘many farmers swap chunks of land to be held in common by the village.’ Furthermore, ‘people leaving the village to work in richer coastal areas often lease farming rights to others in informal arrangements.’

The new reform would make it easier for farmers to make a profit, which means that the growth in wealth of the county would finally reach its farmers as well. For years, only residents of the major cities profited from the nearly unlimited growth of the country’s economy. The package, however, could very well result in farmers raising their income, which would be a tremendous step forward for them.

As such, it can be said that China continues to reform its economy by giving its people more freedom. It is still run by a highly oppressive government, but citizens have gained tremendous (relatively spoken) freedoms in the last decade or so. These freedoms were mostly limited to businessmen and residents of the cities, however. It now seems that villagers too can count on more freedom in this regard.

It is a small step, compared to the West, but an important one nonetheless. The more the Chinese government will allow the people economic freedom, the more prosperous they will become. As we know, the more prosperous people become and the more economic freedoms they have, the more they demand political freedom and rights as well.