The Rural Economy of Guangdong, 1870-1937: A Study of the Agrarian Crisis and its Origins in Southernmost China

240 Pages·1997·27.51 MB·English

by  Alfred H Y Lin (auth.)

STUDIES ON THE CHINESE ECONOMY
General Editors: Peter Nolan, Lecturer in 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
This series analyses issues in China's current economic development, and
sheds light upon that process by examining China's economic history. It
contains a wide range of books on the Chinese economy past and present,
and includes not only studies written by leading Western authorities, but also
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 titles include:
Bozhong Li
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN JIANGNAN, 1620-1850
Alfred H. Y. Lin
THE RURAL ECONOMY OF GUANGDONG, 1870-1937
Nicholas K. Menzies
FOREST AND LAND MANAGEMENT IN IMPERIAL CHINA SINCE
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Ryoshin Minami
THE ECONOMIC REFORM OF CHINA
Peter Nolan
STATE AND MARKET IN THE CHINESE ECONOMY
Yuming Sheng
INTERSECTORAL RESOURCE FLOWS AND CHINA'S ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Hong Wang
CHINA'S EXPORTS SINCE 1979
Wang Xiao-qiang
CHINA'S PRICE AND ENTERPRISE REFORM
Shangquan Gao
CHINA'S ECONOMIC REFORM
Xiaoping Xu
CHINA'S FINANCIAL SYSTEM UNDER TRANSITION
Malcolm Warner
THE MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN CHINESE
INDUSTRY
Tim Wright (editor)
THE CHINESE ECONOMY IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
Yanrui Wu
PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF CHINESE ENTERPRISES
Haiqun Yang
BANKING AND FINANCIAL CONTROL IN REFORMING PLANNED
ECONOMIES
Shujie Yao
AGRICULTURAL REFORMS AND GRAIN PRODUCTION IN CHINA
Xun-Hai Zhang
ENTERPRISE REFORMS IN A CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMY
Ng Sek Hong and Malcolm Warner
CHINA'S TRADE UNIONS AND MANAGEMENT
The Rural Economy of
Guangdong,1870-1937
A Study of the Agrarian Crisis and its
Origins in Southernmost China
Alfred H. Y. Lin
Associate J>rofessor
Departmelll of History
University of Hong Kong
First published in Great Britain 1997 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-40254-0 ISBN 978-0-230-37176-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230371767
~-..- -..- -----··------
First published in the United States of America 1997 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-17594-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lin, A. (Alfred)
The rural economy of Guangdong, 1870-1937 : a study of the
agrarian crisis and its origins in southernmost China I Alfred H.Y.
Lin.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-17594-8
I. Agriculture-Economic aspects-China-K wang tung Province
-History. 2. Kwangtung Province (China)-Rural conditions.
I. Title.
HD2100.K85L56 1997
338.1'0951'27-dc21 97-13959
C!P
----------------· --..- -----··------
©Alfred H. Y. Lin 1997
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1997 978-0-333-69999-7
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with
written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Totten ham Court Road, London W l P 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be 1i able to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
TI1e author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97
To Charles A. Cur wen

Contents
List of Tables xi
List of Figures xiii
Preface xiv
1 Introduction 1
Contemporary Views of the Agrarian Crisis 1
The Agrarian Crisis Re-examined: 'Optimists' versus
'Pessimists' 3
Scope of Study 10
Methodology and Sources 13
2 The Man-Land Ratio and its Effects on Agriculture 19
The Historical Record of Population Growth 19
The Historical Record of Increase in Cultivated Land 27
The Geographical Distribution of Population and
Cultivated Land 31
The Effects of an Unfavourable Man-Land Ratio on
Farm-Size 31
The Fragmentation of Farmland 36
Conclusion 37
3 Paddy Production and the Problem of Rice Shortage 39
Productivity of Paddy Fields 40
Output and Consumption 45
The Importation of Rice 48
Conclusion 56
4 Trade and the Transformation of the Rural Economy 57
Real Growth in Trade: Guangzhou and Shantou 58
The Nature of Trade and Its Impact on the Rural
Economy: The Late Qing Period 67
The Nature of Trade and Its Impact on the Rural
Economy: The Republican Period up to 1937 80
Conclusion 87
VII
Vlll Contents
5 Land Tax, Surtaxes, Miscellaneous Fees and Extra-Legal
Charges 89
The Land Tax under the Qing 90
The Land Tax under the Republic 102
Conclusion 113
6 Landlord-Tenant Relations 115
The Incidence of Tenancy: Limitations of the
Traditional Approach 115
The Institutional Landlords 121
The Secondary Landlords 125
The Military Landlords 128
Forms and Rates of Rent 131
Conclusion 136
7 Sources of Credit and Overseas Remittances 138
Pawnshops 140
Moneylenders and Usurers 145
Rotating Credit Associations 150
Credit Cooperatives 153
Emigration and Overseas Remittances 156
Conclusion 160
8 Conclusion 162
Appendix 170
Notes 188
Bibliography 205
Index 221
Tables
2.1 Population growth in Guangdong, 1661-1953 20
2.2 The distribution of marriage-age groups in rural South
China, 1929-31 26
2.3 Increase in cultivated acreage in Guangdong,
1661-1940 28
2.4 Percentages of peasant households under different
farm-size categories in Republican Guangdong 35
2.5 Average farm-size in Guangdong in the 1930s 36
3.1 Productivity of paddy fields in Guangdong in the 1930s 41
3.2 Paddy output and consumption in Guangdong in the
1930s 46
3.3 The importation of rice into Guangdong, 1875-1937 50
4.1 Trade statistics of Guangzhou, 1875-1937 59
4.2 Trade statistics of Shantou, 1875-1937 61
4.3 The equivalents of the haiguan Hang (hk tl) in British
pounds and American dollars, 1875-1937 64
4.4 Indexes of real growth in trade at Guangzhou,
1875-1937 65
4.5 Indexes of real growth in trade at Shantou, 1875-1937 65
4.6 The main items of trade at Guangzhou and Shantou,
1880 68
4.7 The main items of trade at Guangzhou and Shantou,
1896 72
4.8 The main items of trade at Guangzhou, 1911 78
5.1 Statutory tax per mu of land in Qing Guangdong 91
5.2 Rates of land tax collection and an approximation of
land tax revenue in Guangdong, c.1908 95
5.3 Rates of dingmi collection in Guangdong, 1930 107
5.4 Increase of the general land tax in Guangdong, 1908-30 107
5.5 A comparison of taxed acreage, tax quotas and tax per
mu of agricultural land in Guangdong before and after
the inauguration of the provisional land tax 112
6.1 Tenancy in Guangdong in the 1920s 117
6.2 Distribution of rural classes and of landownership
among these classes in Guangdong in the mid-1930s 120
6.3 Rates of fixed rent in kind and fixed cash rent in
Guangdong in the mid-1930s 134
IX