Rural Reform and Peasant Income in China: The Impact of China's Post-Mao Rural Reforms in Selected Regions

221 Pages·1991·14.366 MB·English

by  Ling Zhu

RURAL REFORM AND PEASANT INCOME IN
CHINA
STUDIES ON THE CHINESE ECONOMY
General Editors: Peter Nolan, Lecturer in the Faculty of Economics and Politics,
University of Cambridge, and Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics, Jesus
College, Cambridge, England; and Dong Fureng, Professor, Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, Beijing, China
For a long period in history China's economy was the most advanced in the world.
In the twenty-first century China may well be at the centre of world economic
development. This series will analyse issues in China's current economic
development, and shed light upon that process by examining China's economic
history. It will contain a wide range of books on the Chinese economy past and
present. The series will include not only studies written by leading Western
authorities, but will publish translations of the most important works on the
Chinese economy produced within China. It intends to make a major contribution
towards understanding this immensely important part of the world economy.
Published
Wang Xiaoqiang and Bai Nanfeng
THE POVERTY OF PLENTY {translated by Angela Knox)
Zhu Ling
RURAL REFORM AND PEASANT INCOME IN CHINA: The Impact of
China's Post-Mao Rural Reforms in Selected Regions
Forthcoming
Alcio Takahara
POLITICS OF WAGE REFORM IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY CHINA
Hua Sheng
THEORETICAL DEBATES IN CHINESE ECONOMIC REFORM
Hua Sheng, Zhang Xie Jung and Luo Xiao Pong
CHINESE REFORM: Retrospect, Reflection and Prospect
I-Chaun Wu-Beyens
FERTILITY CONTROL 1949-86: Politics in the People's Republic of China
J.J. Guo
PRICE REFORM IN CHINA, 1979-86
Michael Korzec
LABOUR AND THE POLITICS OF REFORM
Li Bozhong
THE ECONOMY OF JIANGNAN IN LATE MING AND EARLY QUING
Lin Zili
CHINA'S SOCIALIST ECONOMY
Ryutaro Komiya
THE CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ECONOMY: A Sino-Japanese Comparative
Study
Malcolm Warner
INDUSTRIAL AND MANAGEMENT TRAINING IN CHINA
Wu Cheng-Ming and Xu Dixin
CHINA'S CAPITALIST SPROUTS, Vols 1-3
Rural Reform and
Peasant Income in
China
The Impact of China's
Post-Mao Rural Reforms
in Selected Regions
Zhu Ling
Staff Economist
Institute of Economics, Beijing, China
M
MACMILLAN
© Zhu Ling 1991
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First published 1991
Published by
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Companies and representatives
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Printed in Hong Kong
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Zhu Ling
Rural reform and peasant income in China: the impact
of China's post-Mao rural reforms in selected
regions.
1. China. Rural regions. Economic conditions
I. Title
330.951
ISBN 0-333-49743-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 0-333-49744-9 (paperback)
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To my parents in gratitude for their
contribution to my life and general education

Contents
List of Figures x
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgements xiv
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Purpose of the Research 1
1.2 The Study 2
2 Background of the Subject 5
2.1 The Historical Development of the Institutional
Framework in the Rural Sector 5
2.2 The Current Reform Policies and Their
Historical Background 14
2.3 A Theoretical Discussion of the Factors Which
Caused Policy Swings 18
3 Description of the Research Regions 24
3.1 Henan Province 24
3.2 Luoyang City 29
3.3 The Three Counties Surveyed 31
3.4 The Sample Villages 40
4 Features of Peasant Households 46
4.1 Tendency Towards Small Households 46
4.2 Peasant Farms 47
4.2.1 Labour force 48
4.2.2 Scale of farmland 51
4.2.3 Capital goods 51
4.3 Transition From Subsistence Economy to
Market-oriented Economy 54
4.4 Conclusion 60
5 Development of the Net Income of Peasant Households 61
5.1 Income Level of the Households to 1978 61
vii
Contents
5.2 Income Level of the Households in 1985 65
5.3 Income Inequality 71
5.4 Conclusion 75
Non-agricultural Activities of Different Income Groups 77
6.1 Sources of Income 77
6.2 Determinants of Non-agricultural Activities in
the Regions Studied 82
6.3 Inequality in Non-farm Income Distribution 89
6.4 Conclusion 99
Main Influences on Farm Income 101
7.1 The General Increase in Farm Incomes 101
7.1.1 Organizational factors 103
7.1.2 Technical Progress 104
7.1.3 Cumulative effect 106
7.2 Agricultural Income Distribution Among Sample
Households 108
7.3 Causes of the Disparity in Farm Income Between
Sample Households 116
7.4 Conclusion 124
Savings and Investment 127
8.1 Expenditure and Savings in Sample Households 127
8.2 Barriers to Capital Investment in Agriculture 135
8.2.1 Farmers' concern about political
instability 142
8.2.2 Low profitability of agriculture 144
8.3 Conclusion 145
Discussion of Results 147
9.1 Impact of Rural Economic Reform on Income of
Peasant Households 147
9.2 Current Problems in Increasing Income 154
9.3 Conclusions and Possible Counter-measures 164
Summary 171
Contents IX
Appendices
A: Miscellaneous Data 111
B: Gross Output, Net Income and Labour Force Data 178
C: Regional Differences 183
D: Farm Development and Structure 184
E: Income Distribution 186
Notes 190
Bibliography 192
Index 195