Managing the Fengtian national forest during the Republican era: affirmation and disputes over usage rights

During the late Qing and early Republican periods, the Beijing government implemented a national forest system that challenged customary forest rights in Northeast China. Under the old system in the Qing era, forest rights were considered as a whole, incorporating both forestland and timber on the ground. Private forest rights were usually evidenced by land deeds and tax certificates for forest products. However, the new national forest system subdivided the previously integrated forest rights. This meant that timber from natural forests and non-owner-planted woods had to be nationalized and issued with a standardized state forest license by the Forestry Bureau. Consequently, the separation and nationalization of natural forest tree ownership deprived people of their ownership and usage rights of forest trees on private woodlands and public mountain farms, leading to disputes over forest rights. In Fengtian Province, where there were many natural forests, the extension of national forest rights to private and public mountain forests led to numerous forest disputes and lawsuits, gradually reshaping the local property rights order.