The New Peasant Economy in China

Abstract

One of the most important dimensions of the rural reforms in China has been the new interest in and focus on the peasant household as the basic economic, political and social unit in the countryside. The peasant household economy had become a much simplified economy and its autonomy and control over resource allocation and production output had been much diminished. The original aim of the rural responsibility systems was to introduce a new form of management in the collective sector, reduce the size of the labour group and provide incentives to promote production and link reward more directly to performance. To encourage the peasant household to increase the production of domestic sidelines, the government has expanded the area allotted to private plots and fodder lands. The government has encouraged diversification and specialization of commodity production at both inter-regional and intra-regional levels.