北京——中国首次澄清了公众密切关注的一个土地使用权问题。数以百万计的中国人将财富投入到了房产上，这个问题一直让他们感到很不踏实。

　　Chinese officials said that a group of homeowners in the eastern city of Wenzhou would not have to pay a fee to extend the rights to the land under their residences. Homeowners in China own their actual dwellings but not the land underneath them. All land in China is owned by the government, which parcels it out to developers and homeowners through 20- to 70-year leases.

　　中国官员说，东部城市温州的一群房主不必支付费用来续期住房的土地使用权。中国的房主拥有的是住房本身，但不拥有住房下面的土地。中国的所有土地都属于政府，政府把土地出租给开发商和房主，租期20~70年不等。

　　In Wenzhou, the local government had told some homeowners whose 20-year leases had expired that they would have to pay a hefty fee to renew, and the situation there was being monitored closely across the country. Many Chinese homeowners — a bedrock of the country’s economy and growing consumer sector — worried that they would have to pay dearly to keep using the land under their homes.

　　在温州，地方政府曾告诉一些20年租约已到期的房主，他们必须支付大笔费用来续期，这引起了全国的密切关注。房地产是中国经济的一块基石，也是一个日益增长的消费门类，中国的很多房主都担心自己必须付出大笔金钱，才能继续使用住房下面的土地。

　　The decision — announced on Friday by Wang Guanghua, China’s vice minister of land and resources — stops short of providing homeowners all over the country a clear legal framework on their land ownership rights. Nevertheless, it could set a precedent that would pave the way for similar moves in other cities.

　　这个决定是国土资源部副部长王广华在上周五宣布的，它没有为全国各地的房主提供一个明确的土地所有权法律框架。不过它可以成为一个先例，为其他城市的类似举措铺平道路。

　　At a news conference, Mr. Wang said that the measures were temporary and that the government was working on “relevant legal arrangements” for those holding 70-year leases, according to a transcript of the briefing on the ministry’s website. Much of China’s residential land is covered by 70-year leases.

　　根据该部网站上的文稿，王广华在一次记者招待会上表示，这些措施是暂时的，政府正在为那些持有70年租约者“作出法律安排”。中国大部分的住宅用地使用期限都为70年。

　　The issue of land ownership rights came into focus in Wenzhou in April after the local government demanded that homeowners whose land-use rights had expired after 20 years pay fees of up to a third of the value of their homes before they could sell their apartments. The decision provoked protests from property owners in Wenzhou, a coastal city of eight million that was one of the first to set up private enterprise after the government opened up the economy in the late 1970s.

　　今年4月，土地所有权问题在温州成为了一个关注重点，因为地方政府要求，土地使用权20年到期的房主需要缴纳房价的三分之一，才能出售住房。该决定引发了当地房主的抗议。温州是一个800万人口的沿海城市，是中国政府1970年代末开放经济后首批建立私营企业的城市之一。

　　Xinhua, the main state news agency, hailed the government’s decision, calling it “one small step for Wenzhou, one giant leap for China.” Global Times, a nationalist tabloid owned by People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, said it was “the biggest news of the year.”

　　官方通讯社新华社赞扬了政府的这个决定，称之为“温州一小步，中国一大步”。中国共产党党报《人民日报》旗下的民族主义小报《环球时报》说，这是“本年度最重大的消息”。

　　Land-use rights are set to expire in the cities of Qingdao, Jinan and Shenzhen, according to Xinhua.

　　据新华社报道，在青岛，济南和深圳等城市，很多居民的住宅土地使用权也将要过期。

　　The measures “conform to the expectations of the masses,” Xinhua said in a commentary on Saturday.

　　新华社星期六在一篇评论中说，这些措施“顺应了群众的期盼”。

　　“For all citizens, it is transmitting spring’s first glow of warm air,” it said.

　　“对于所有公民来说，是传递春天信息的最早一缕暖风，”文章写道。

　　The number of residents affected by the 20-year land-use rights in Wenzhou is relatively small. China Youth Daily, a state-run news outlet, said that about 600 households had 20-year leases that expire next year and 1,700 others by 2019. But their property transactions have been in limbo because of the uncertainty over their land-use rights.

　　温州20年土地使用权影响的居民人数相对较少。官方新闻媒体《中国青年报》报道，约有600户家庭的20年租约将在明年到期，2019年还有1700户。但由于土地使用权的不确定性，他们的房产交易一直处在尴尬境地。

　　In 2007, China moved to reassure homeowners by requiring that local governments renew 70-year leases automatically. Yet the law did not make clear whether homeowners would have to pay for the renewal or what would happen to those with shorter leases.

　　2007年时，中国为了安抚房主，要求地方政府为70年使用权自动续期。然而，该法律没有明确房主是否需要为续期付费，以及租赁时间较短的房主会面临怎样的问题。

　　China has one of the highest rates of homeownership in the world, about 90 percent. Many people see it as a good investment in a country that has not experienced a sustained housing slump. Homeownership also plays a social role: Buying a home is widely seen as part of getting married. And in the past two decades since the government has allowed private homeownership, many people rushed to buy homes without thinking of the legal issues governing their limited land-use rights.

　　中国是世界上自住房比率最高的国家之一，约为90%。该国没有经历过楼市的持续低迷，很多人认为房产是一项好投资。住房所有权也扮演了社会角色：公众广泛认为结婚的时候需要购房。自从20年前政府允许私人拥有住房以来，很多人都急于买房，并没有考虑到其有限的土地使用权涉及的法律问题。

　　A majority of them also expected that the government would grant them full ownership of their homes without repossession or a huge fee to renew their land rights. Those moves could hurt the Chinese property market and anger China’s middle class — an important constituency of the ruling Communist Party — that is richer, larger and more aware of its rights than ever before.

　　大多数购房者还认定，政府将让他们完全拥有自己的住房，不会收回土地使用权或是收取巨额续期费用。这些做法可能会冲击中国房地产市场，引发中产阶级的怒火——他们是执政党共产党的重要支持者，而且比以往任何时候都更富有、规模更大，对自己的权利也有更强烈的意识。