Political conflict and rural industrialization in China

Abstract

Rural industries have advanced especially rapidly since the Cultural Revolution. Although the political shift of late 1976 created doubt about their future, little significant difference exists between the earlier and present basic approaches. Rural industrialization has been stressed as a way to develop the economies of the larger rural collectives (brigades and communes). This process is quite advanced in some suburban and relatively developed rural areas, where commune and brigade industries employ substantial proportions of the local labour force, and contribute as much as half or more of total output, thus paving the way for the transition to a higher level of collective organization and ownership in the countryside.