Economic cycles and rural policies in the People's Republic of China

The authors trace the changes in agricultural policies since the founding of the P.R. China, the various shifts between supporting rural villages and exploiting them for industrialization and urban growth. Their account begins with the equal distribution of land for nearly 90 percent of the population and moves on to successive policy changes: Collectivization, the policy of allowing small parcels of privately cultivated land, granting farmers the right to the rural surplus, the establishment of Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs), the integration of TVEs into the export economy, the recognition of environmental degradation, and finally the trend of capital flow into the rural sector. The account of these changes is placed in the context of urban developments and the challenges of rapid industrialization and militarization in response to external threats from the USSR and US-led capitalist alliances. The chapter concludes that rural China played an important role in cushioning the shocks of cyclical economic crises caused by urban industrial capital.