At the Singapore Land Workshop held at SMU on 28-29 July 2018, SMU Associate Professor of Sociology Qian Forrest Zhang in his talk, ‘Varieties of “Land Grabs” in Rural China: Institutional Logic and Political Dynamics’ argued that the dominant discourse surrounding land issues in China centres on rural residents who are dispossessed of their lands by local governments or other authorities are oversimplified. In reality, the conditions surrounding land acquisitions – such as residents’ compensation, bargaining power and socioeconomic status, as well as the flexibility of the authorities – can vary greatly, he said. To get a better handle on the complexities of land dispossession, Associate Prof Zhang advocates a more nuanced study of its many different varieties.