Red China’s Green Revolution: Technological Innovation, Institutional Change, and Economic Development Under the Commune

478 Pages·2018·7.98 MB·English

by  Joshua Eisenman

RED CHINA’S GREEN REVOLUTION
Red China’s Green Revolution
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE,
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE COMMUNE
Joshua Eisenman
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2018 Joshua Eisenman All rights reserved E-ISBN 978-0-231-54675-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Eisenman, Joshua, 1977-author.
Title: Red China’s green revolution: technological innovation, institutional change, and economic
development under the commune / Joshua Eisenman.
Description: New York: Columbia University Press, [2018]
Identifiers: LCCN 2017054574 | ISBN 9780231186667 (hardcover and pbk.: alk. paper) Subjects:
LCSH: Green Revolution—China. | Communes (China) | Agriculture—Economic aspects—China.
| Agriculture and state—China.
Classification: LCC S471.C6 E37 2018 | DDC 338.10951—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2017054574
ISBN 9780231-18666-7 (hardcover) ISBN 9780231-18667-4 (paperback) ISBN 9780231-54675-1 (e-
book) A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at cup-
[email protected].
Cover design: Noah Arlow
To the memory of Richard Baum, who taught me how to
seek truth from facts.
CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
FOREWORD
BY LYNN T. WHITE III
PROLOGUE:
CHINA’S MISSING INSTITUTION
Chapter One
Introduction: Assessing Commune Productivity
Part I.
Creating China’s Green Revolution
Chapter Two
Institutional Origins and Evolution
Chapter Three
China’s Green Revolution
Part II.
Sources of Commune Productivity
Chapter Four
Economics: Super-Optimal Investment
Chapter Five
Politics: Maoism
Chapter Six
Organization: Size and Structure
Chapter Seven
Burying the Commune
Chapter Eight
Conclusion
APPENDIX A.
NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION DATA, 1949–1979
APPENDIX B.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS FOR CHAPTER 6
APPENDIX C.
ESSENTIAL OFFICIAL AGRICULTURAL POLICY STATEMENTS ON THE COMMUNE, 1958–1983
I. COMMUNE CREATION
a. August 29, 1958: CPC Central Committee, “Resolution on the Establishment of People’s
Communes in the Rural Areas”
b. November 3, 1960: CPC Central Committee, “Urgent Directive Concerning Present Policy
Problems in Rural People’s Communes”
c. September 1962: CPC Central Committee, “Working Regulations of Rural People’s
Communes” (a.k.a., The Sixty Articles on Agriculture)
II. COMMUNE REFORM AND GOVERNANCE
d. December 11, 1970: State Council, “Report of the State Council on the Northern Districts
Agricultural Conference”
e. December 26, 1971: Central Document No. 82, “CPC Central Committee Directive
Concerning the Question of Distribution in the Rural People’s Communes”
f. October 15, 1975: Central Document No. 21, Hua Guofeng’s Abridged Report on the First
Dazhai Conference, “Mobilize the Whole Party, Make Greater Efforts to Develop Agriculture
and Strive to Build Dazhai-Type Counties Throughout the Country”
III. DECOLLECTIVIZATION
g. May 31, 1980: Deng Xiaoping, “On Questions of Rural Policy”
h. September 27, 1980: Central Document No. 75, “CPC Central Committee Directive
Concerning Several Issues in Further Strengthening and Perfecting the Production
Responsibility System in Agriculture”
i. October 12, 1983: CPC Central Committee and State Council, “Circular on Separating the
Local Government from Communes and Setting Up Township Governments”
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
FIGURE 0.1 Xiaogang Contract No. 1, displayed at the National Museum of China as
viewed in December 2000 and May 2013.
FIGURE 0.2 Xiaogang Contract No. 2, displayed at the Xiaogang Village Museum and
published online by the People’s Daily on November 11, 2008.
FIGURE 1.1 Total agricultural production: grain, edible oil, and pigs.
FIGURE 1.2 Agricultural production per unit land: grain, edible oil, and pigs.
FIGURE 1.3 Agricultural production per unit labor: grain, edible oil, and pigs.
FIGURE 1.4 National comparison of grain production.
FIGURE 1.5 National comparison of pig inventory.
FIGURE 1.6 National comparison of life expectancy at birth.
FIGURE 3.1 Investment in agriculture.
FIGURE 3.2 “The Production Team’s Agricultural Research Small Group,” 1973.
FIGURE 3.3 Population and commune labor.
FIGURE 3.4 Commune population in selected provinces.
FIGURE 3.5 Number of cities by population size.
FIGURE 3.6 Technical and teacher training.
FIGURE 3.7 Primary, middle, and high school student enrollment.
FIGURE 3.8 Students in secondary vocational training.
FIGURE 3.9 Total arable land and average arable land per commune worker.
FIGURE 3.10 Arable land per commune worker in select provinces.
FIGURE 3.11 Total fertilizer production and use per Ha.
FIGURE 3.12 Total pesticide production.
FIGURE 3.13 Percentage area sown with high-yield seed varieties.
FIGURE 3.14 Irrigation infrastructure.
FIGURE 3.15 Mechanized cultivation.
FIGURE 3.16 Tractors and agricultural horsepower.