c#: getter/setter

I saw something like the following somewhere, and was wondering what it meant. I know they are getters and setters, but want to know why the string Type is defined like this. Thanks for helping me.

public string Type { get; set; }

Those are Auto-Implemented Properties (Auto Properties for short).

The compiler will auto-generate the equivalent of the following simple implementation:

private string _type;

public string Type
{
    get { return _type; }
    set { _type = value; }
}

That is an auto-property and it is the shorthand notation for this:

private string type;
public string Type
{
  get { return this.type; }
  set { this.type = value; }
}

In C# 6:

It is now possible to declare the auto-properties just as a field:

public string FirstName { get; set; } = "Ropert";

Read-Only Auto-Properties

public string FirstName { get;} = "Ropert";