Chinese farmers' rights to manage and use their land will not change in the long run, or "forever", said Premier Wen Jiabao at a press conference Monday in Beijing.
  
According to Wen, China's reform started in rural areas, to be more specific, from readjusting the right to "manage and use land", and a household contract responsibility system for farm production was established in the late 1970s, allowing farmers to utilize their land in due course.
  
"Their rights have been continuously extended," said Wen, reaffirming that rural land is under collective ownership in China.

He made the remarks at a press conference with a group of Chinese and foreign journalists who covered the just-ended annual session of the National People's Congress.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2005)