Rural Transition in China | SMU Research

In the past two to three decades, amidst a backdrop of changing food demand, sustained transfer of rural labour into urban jobs, decline of the natural birth rate in the rural population, rural development and politics in China entered a new phase that revolves around what the central government calls ‘agricultural modernisation’.

Transformation of the once-dominant smallholding, family-based agriculture has become a focal point of the Chinese government's programme of rural rejuvenation, where a range of economic changes unleashed by urbanisation and industrialisation also converge.

In this video, Forrest Zhang, Associate Professor of Sociology, examines the rural transition in China, the role of agribusiness in the rise of agrarian capitalism, and its socio-economic implications.

Research Interests
Agrarian political economy, Social class, Family and social mobility, Self-employment and informal economy, Contemporary chinese society,

References
Zhang, Q. F., & Wu, Jianling. (2017). Political dynamics in land commodification: Commodifying rural land development rights in Chengdu, China. Geoforum, 78, 98-109.

Zhang, Qian Forrest. (2015). Bringing Agriculture Back In: The Central Place of Agrarian Change in Rural China Studies. Journal of Agrarian Change, 15(3), 299-314.

Zhang, Q. F. (2015). Class Differentiation in Rural China: Dynamics of Accumulation, Commodification and State Intervention. Journal of Agrarian Change, 15(3), 338-366.

Zhang, Q. F., & Pan, Z. (2013). The Transformation of Urban Vegetable Retail in China: Wet Markets, Supermarkets and Informal Markets in Shanghai. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 43(3), 497-518.

Zhang, Q. F., & Donaldson, J. A. (2008). The Rise of Agrarian Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Agricultural Modernization, Agribusiness and Collective Land Rights. The China Journal, (60), 25-47

Brown, Lester Russell. (1995). Who will feed China? : wake-up call for a small planet. New York : W.W. Norton & Co.

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Office of Research & Tech Transfer (ORTT)
Singapore Management University

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[JuanGabrielOyolaCardona]

Thanks for sharing 😀👍 greetings from Colombia.

[hanyuzeng]

Good video actually feeding its people is no longer a problem.but it comes other problems for us to solve

[MS-insl]

For the Chinese, the need to keep its nearly 1.5 billion people fed is of the highest priority.

As part of the breakneck drive to keep the masses satisfied, the agricultural sector paid little attention to environmental costs. In keeping with the “Green Revolution, ” farmers soaked the soil with chemicals. China became synonymous with tainted food, from mercury-laden rice to melamine-infused milk powder.

Was there any way for China to produce enough safe food for its growing population if they all start eating like Americans? In keeping with the challenge posed by de-growth advocates, including me, the simple answer is that it can’t. It takes about one acre to feed the average U.S. consumer, but China only has about 0.2 acres of arable land per citizen, including polluted fields. For government planners, the future looks bleak in light of reports that almost 20 percent of China’s remaining arable land is contaminated.

That is one of the main reasons that China roams the planet looking for pig farms to buy or arable land to grow soybeans and other commodities necessary for home consumption.

[lokesh]

Delivery sector aids in rural revitalization.

[hanyuzeng]

As a Chinese student I have to say actually the wasting of food is extremely prevailing in China. The government strongly suggested about stop wasting few years ago. Feeding people with safe food products is definitely not an issue.But there’s still regional imbalance. Forget my grammar mistakes..