What is a Title Deed?

The gauze paper deed in Macao originated from a land contract in ancient China. This deed method was passed from the Mainland to Macau around the Qing Dynasty. Before Macao was occupied by Portugal, especially in Taipa and Coloane, a lot of land had the title deed of gauze and paper as its main title.

Gauze

Right!

"Gauze paper" is a kind of moisture-proof and durable paper. It was mainly used to make lanterns. "Gauze paper deed" refers to the deed written on this paper. in

There are two kinds of gauze paper deeds that have appeared in Macau. The first is the "red deed", which is a deed issued by the Xiangshan County Government in the Qing Dynasty. The deed is stamped with the official government red seal. The other is a "private deed", which is a deed for privately buying and selling land on the market. When a deed is established, it must be witnessed by a senior or a certain social status, but there is no official government seal.

However, there were two cases later: the third one was a "paper deed", a deed affixed with the Australian and Portuguese government stamps and written with the middleman's signature, but the process of establishing a deed was not officially approved by the Australian and Portuguese procedures. The fourth type is the "default deed", which is more special and does not establish any substantial deeds, because the land of the "default deed" is actually opened by a private person without authorization, but the residents near the land have no objections or disputes. , "Default" the land is owned by the wastelander. ^[1]

Origin

Gauze and paper deeds in Macao can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty. According to the Journal of the Macao Polytechnic Institute (Chinese version No. 26), gauze and paper deeds appeared in Macau in the 19th century or before. Before the Macao and Portuguese governments occupied Taipa and Coloane (hereafter referred to as "Cotai"), there were many so-called "gauze deeds" (hereinafter referred to as "gauze deeds") (at the time only red deeds and private deeds) . By the time of the occupation of Cotai in the mid-to-late 19th century, this deed was maintained for a short period of time, because at that time the residents of Cotai refused to acknowledge Portuguese governance, and the residents still went to the town of Lemen in Xiangshan County for land transactions. It wasn't until 1887 that the Manchu and Qing governments signed the "Portuguese-Portuguese Peace Treaty" with the Portuguese government. The Qing government officially recognized the government of Macao and Portugal, and the Portuguese government dared to treat Macau land as government ownership. ^[2]

The government of Macao and Portugal and the Macao SAR government do not recognize the deed of paper and paper, but have been unable to come up with a solution to the problems related to the paper and paper deed, which has also buried the issue. Although the Australian and Portuguese Governments amended the Land Law in 1980 to indicate that they would establish a legal system for the paper and paper deeds in the future, no complete bill has yet been issued. The Sino-Portuguese Land Group also delayed and left the issue of gauze paper to the subsequent Macau SAR government. After the return of Macao, although the SAR government has repeatedly emphasized that it will face up to the problem, although Cotai residents have repeatedly written to the government and held discussions with relevant authorities, the government has never had a complete plan, and to some extent it has also avoided the problem. Just want to keep the status quo. It will take a long time for the problems left over from the history of yarn and paper deeds to be fully resolved.

The issue of gauze paper has long had a negative impact on the development of Taipa and Coloane. From the completion of the Cotai Highway in 1968 to the early 1990s, even though the Australian and Portuguese authorities launched a series of island construction plans during the period, the development speed of Cotai It is still very slow, and part of it is due to the unresolved issue of the legality of the gauze paper deed. Moreover, it also affects the development of surrounding tourist attractions. Some typical examples, for example, the government had planned to build a mountain cable car in Coloane Mazu Cultural Village, but the plan failed because the cable car would pass through some gauze deeds.

At the end of 2008, the Macau government decided to build an economic house in the "TN27" area of Taipa, but was blocked because the area included land claimed to be a deed of gauze and paper.

The issue of yarn and paper deeds is also not conducive to the relationship between the government and the people. The holder of the gauze paper deed hopes to obtain legal title, but the government (whether it is the Macao-Portuguese government or the Macao SAR government) does not recognize the gauze paper deed, and the government and the people contradict each other. Gauze paper holders are worried about whether they will lose their land rights or whether buildings (mostly old buildings) built on the gauze paper site will be demolished. Although from time to time some people have been enclosing and reclaiming the owned tissue paper land (some may just claim it), they have been ordered to be demolished by the government as illegal. In May 2007, for the first time since the reunification, the government-civilian conflict broke out because of the gauze contract-a gauze site near the black sand beach in Coloane, because the authorities said that the occupants of the site destroyed the mountain and sent personnel to the site The demolition caused dissatisfaction with Coloane villagers; the villagers protested at the scene and displayed their deeds on the spot to declare land titles.

In addition, the problem of yarn and paper deeds also caused illegal land occupation. Some people attempted to borrow the yarn and paper deeds to occupy land that was not originally their own (commonly known as "enclosure"). Youluhuan villagers even pointed out that members of the triad society joined the enclosure and divided the villagers, resulting in tension among the villagers and further exacerbating the problem of yarn and paper deeds.

As for the houses on the gauze paper floor, it is also difficult for these owners to apply for legal engineering permits for maintenance due to the legality of the gauze paper deeds, resulting in the dilapidated buildings. As a result, at the end of May 2007, a house collapsed on the gauze site in Coloane City. The government announced that it would handle the approval for the repair of the gauze site as appropriate, but repeatedly emphasized that no new houses could be built on these sites.