PROPERTY OWNERSHIP IN ASIA : CHINA

China is not a normal market economy. There is no private ownership of land in China. Land is owned by the government or by the collectives. 

Hence, when someone purchases an apartment in China, they are only purchasing a share of the building, not a share of the land. More to the point, they do not own the apartment - they are only purchasing a lease on the property, usually for 70 years, although shorter terms are possible. 

Chinese property speculation is not the same animal as property speculation in market economies. In effect, people in China are speculating on property leases.

Property developers purchase a right to use the land from governments or collectives. This means the Chinese government can much more easily and quickly turn off the flow of construction than a government in a market economy, which typically uses interest rates to subdue developers' appetites. 

Hence, unlike market economies, the effect of subduing construction is comparatively cauterised, although obviously still significant in the broader economy. The construction industry has a similarly prominent role in most economies.

The Chinese Government can turn its policy "on a dime" as  the Americans say. This is their regular practice. It would be prudent to watch for signs of a reversal in the Chinese government policy on the construction industry, before concluding the world economy is going to be derailed. One of the reasons the Chinese government often reverses its policy is that it just doesn't know what effect its policies will have. It's a living experiment with adaption from empirical results, not models.

In UK, a management company often owns the freehold and this, in turn, is often owned by the leaseholders. In flats, leasehold makes more sense if there is no ground rent etc as it enables the freeholder to enforce positive convenetats re decoration, common parts and the like.