Media coverage of topics related to rural land in 2018 increased by over two times on the previous year. As rural land reform accelerated and new policies began to deliver tangible benefits，the public’s attention was drawn to news about top level policies and regulations，such as the amendment to the rural land contracting law，the separation of the three types of rights to rural residential land，and the reform of rural collective property rights including the verification of assets. While unique and good practices emerged，more scandals of illegal use or destruction of rural land was also revealed. Nevertheless，the result of the campaign to clean up non-agricultural facilities built on land designated for greenhouses was also widely recognized. In terms of the overall trend，efforts on the ground to reform the rural land institution became a new focus of media interest，the immediate responses made by the government on incidents related to rural land to some extent calmed the public，and rumors on reform policies were commonly seen on social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo，which required more attention.