Funded by the European Research Council (ERC), which funds the top researchers within the European Union, the “RECOLAND” project on land and institutions in China, seeks to go beyond widely accepted dichotomous views on China’s development – be they on an impending collapse or on its booming future. Instead, it aims to analyze and explain China’s development in all its many-faceted, paradoxical dimensions. The project’s research revolves around the critical issue of China’s economic (in)stability. In so doing, the project aims to answer questions why China has been relatively stable during its more than 30 years of development, why the bubble in real estate was so difficult to control, and why social actors were willing to invest in property rights that were hugely informal, opaque and insecure. For more information, please refer to RECOLAND.