Both before and during the early years of the establishment of the Beijing government, the Chinese Communists permitted land ownership by peasants on the Chinese mainland. They also promoted the establishment of elementary agricultural producer cooperatives, encouraging peasants to become shareholders by contributing their land ownership rights. The peasants who joined the cooperatives enjoyed profit distribution in proportion to their shares of land contribution while voluntary withdrawal from and cooperatives was allowed. Later, with the establishment of the advanced agricultural producer cooperatives and the people's communes, all land became publicly owned. The consolidation of public ownership seriously dampened the productive enthusiasm of the peasants. Since the beginning of economic reforms, Beijing has tried to solve the problem by introducing a rural land contract system. However, the new practice produced other problems-such as uncertainty over the property rights of collective land. Some areas in Guangdong Province have therefore introduced on a trial basis a system of cooperation under which land contract rights are converted into shares qualifying the shareholders for proportionate profit distribution. The system seems to have returned land ownership rights to peasants since the income that they receive from their shares is in essence the result of their exercises of land ownership rights. The land contract rights have become land financial assets (share) ownership rights. Thus, a dual land ownership system-collective ownership of land plus ownership by individual peasants of their contracted land-has taken shape.