ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

Sec. Land, Livelihoods and Food Security

Clan Structure and Induced Changes in Land Systems: Evidence from Land Consolidation and Titling Policy in Yangshan, Guangdong, China

• Kai Liu ¹

• WZ Wenjue Zhu ²

• 1. Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, China

• 2. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

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Abstract

Induced institutional change under government policy goals is an important feature of rural land governance in China. This study examines how village clan structure is associated with the adoption of land consolidation before titling in Yangshan County, Guangdong. The theoretical model focuses on negotiations over the redistribution of contracted land rights. It suggests that members of a dominant clan may resist an allocation that threatens their existing land advantages, while their anticipated position after redistribution may shape their willingness to support consolidation. The empirical analysis uses a 2017 survey covering 80 administrative villages, 160 natural villages, and 1,600 households. The reported results associate a larger number of major surnames and more frequent clan gatherings with a higher likelihood of consolidation adoption. Greater unity within the largest-surname group is associated with a lower likelihood of adoption. Exploratory interaction and subgroup results suggest that the negative unity association is weaker at higher levels of baseline land fragmentation. These findings are consistent with a distributional bargaining interpretation, but they do not identify causal effects or directly establish a land-quality mechanism. In particular, unobserved village characteristics and landholdings concentrated within the largest-surname group offer alternative explanations. The study connects informal social organization with negotiated land-policy implementation and highlights the relevance of transparent valuation, inclusive consultation, and compensation for identifiable losses.

Summary

Keywords

Clan, induced institutional change, Land consolidation, land quality heterogeneity, rural land governance

Received

10 June 2026

Accepted

26 October 2026

Copyright

© 2026 Liu and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Wenjue Zhu

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