Resource Endowment, Rural Governance, and the “New Agriculture” in China

Abstract

China’s “new agriculture,” characterized by a “capital-labor dual intensifying” pattern of production, is an effective way of linking small peasants with modern agriculture. Based on a field survey of several neighboring villages in Nijingzhen, Hebei, this article describes and compares each village’s level of agricultural development, and how the new agriculture differs within them. The analysis reveals that both soil texture and land layout affect the ability of villages to adopt new agricultural technologies that characterize the new agriculture. The current land layout is determined by the land division rules that are collectively made by villagers under village self-governance and deeply influenced by the effectiveness of rural governance. “Capable rural people,” family surname and clan structures, and the structure of peasant households, in addition to the choice to remain in the villages, interact with each other and affect the effectiveness of village governing authorities. In turn, the development of the new agriculture impacts the inflow and outflow of the rural labor force, and whether villagers remain in the village, which in turn affects rural governance and social stratification.