Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.4, 2013

 

New Research on the Distribution of Rural Land in North China: An Analysis of Shanxi, Hebei and Shangdong Provinces                      

(Abstract)

 

Hu Yingze

 

Scholarly debate continues about whether the pre-1949 distribution of rural land was concentrated or dispersed. A Gini coefficient analysis of land distribution in Shanxi, Hebei and Shandong in the 1920s and 1930s shows that rural land holdings in these provinces were relatively dispersed, with the Gini coefficient of land distribution being 0.5 or higher. This shows a very uneven distribution. This was partly because some households had larger holdings which, though they varied in size, far surpassed the village average, and partly because there was quite a high proportion of landless households and households with only a little land, with the latter having land holdings that were below or far below the average. This led to polarization in the possession of land. A good knowledge of the structural features of land distribution in these provinces provides a basis for understanding the pre-1949 rural crisis in northern China and the later CPC land reform.