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Comparing Local Models Of Agrarian Transition In China, Qian Forrest Zhang
Comparing Local Models Of Agrarian Transition In China, Qian Forrest Zhang
Qian Forrest ZHANG
The development of markets and the penetration of capital into agriculture have started the agrarian transition in rural China, which is transforming smallholding, household-based agriculture into various forms of capitalistic production. This again raises in a new historical and social context the long-debated question in the agrarian transition literature: Can family farms survive the onslaught of capitalist agriculture based on wage labor and what shapes the confrontation between family farms and agro-capital? I argue that it is the local political economy—rather than some natural obstacles in agriculture to the penetration of capitalism—that shapes this confrontation and gives rise to a …
From Peasants To Farmers: Peasant Differentiation, Labor Regimes And Land-Rights Institutions In China’S Agrarian Transition, Qian Forrest Zhang, John Andrew Donaldson
From Peasants To Farmers: Peasant Differentiation, Labor Regimes And Land-Rights Institutions In China’S Agrarian Transition, Qian Forrest Zhang, John Andrew Donaldson
Qian Forrest ZHANG
The development of factor markets has opened Chinese agriculture for the penetration of capitalism. This new round of rural transformation—China’s agrarian transition— raises the agrarian question in the Chinese context. This study investigates how capitalist forms and relations of production transform agricultural production and the peasantry class in rural China. The authors identify six forms of nonpeasant agricultural production, compare the labor regimes and direct producers’ socioeconomic statuses across these forms, and evaluate the role of China’s land-rights institution in shaping these forms. The empirical investigation presents three main findings: (1) Peasant differentiation : capitalist forms of agricultural production differentiate …