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Chinese Court Rules Bitcoin Should Be Protected As Property (coindesk.com)
A Chinese court has ruled that despite the country's central bank's ban on cryptocurrency trading, bitcoin should be legally protected as a property with economic values. CoinDesk reports: The Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration published a case analysis on Thursday via WeChat, detailing its ruling on a recent economic dispute that involved a business contract relating to possession and transfer of crypto assets. According to the case analysis, the unnamed plaintiff signed a contract agreement with the defendant, which allowed the latter to trade and manage a pool of cryptocurrencies on the plaintiff's behalf. However, the plaintiff said the defendant failed and refused to return the cryptocurrencies after an agreed deadline. As a result, they brought the case to the arbitrator, seeking the return of the assets with interest. The court concluded that, whether bitcoin is a legal tender or not, does not have an impact on the fact that bitcoin ownership should be protected legally based on China's contract law, adding: "Bitcoin has the nature of a property, which can be owned and controlled by parties, and is able to provide economic values and benefits."
China started privatizing businesses in 1978, starting with small businesses This continued through the 1980s and large concerns were privatized 1990s in order to try to be able to compete the United States economically (and not starve).
By one measure, China is now only "65% Communist", while the US has increased to 48%. (Putting both firmly in the socialist range).
A Chinese court thinks they will set national law without consulting Party HQ in Peking?
You misunderstand how things work in China.
America is a federation, where in theory, most power is at the state level, but in practice power is often centralized in Washington.
China is the opposite. In theory, power is centralized, but in practice it is widely disbursed.
China does not have an independent judiciary, but courts are often influenced much more by local politicians, than by far of Beijing. The local politicians in Shenzhen, a cosmopolitan city a stone's throw from the HK border, are going to be far more liberal in their rulings than the national court in Beijing.
Communism says that the government owns everything.
No it doesn't. Communism says the government withers away. The people collectively own capital - the means of production. Non-capital goods are individually owned. So your toothbrush is yours, and yours alone.
At least that is the theory. In practice, it works like this.