Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2015

 

Continuity and Gradual Change: The Agricultural Production and Its Driving Force in Dingxian County in Central Hebei Province Pre-1949

(Abstract)

 

Li Jinzheng

 

Agricultural production in Dingxian County in central Hebei offers evidence for economic change in pre-1949 rural areas in China. Production conditions basically retained their ancestral characteristics; this reflected not only the adaptability of traditional methods, but the fact that the labor surplus arising from the high population and scarcity of arable land left no other option. At the same time, with the encouragement of non-official organizations and government agencies, farm tools, crops, irrigation and other features of modern agriculture began to appear. Traditional grains were the main crop, but the acreage of commercial crops, especially cotton, increased significantly. Demand from foreign markets became an important factor. Nevertheless, the peasants rarely staked everything on cultivating commercial crops; their pursuit of profit was limited. There was some increase in total grain output, due not to expansion of land area but increased output per mu of land. This increased output was a consequence of improved production conditions, particularly the greatly increased labor input. Although this caused a decline in labor productivity, it enhanced subsistence utility.