Rural China today

The pace and direction of Chinese development has undergones great change since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, and there has been fundamental reappraisal of the Maoist experience, particularly in the countryside. Rural China Today is the first book to analyse the varied effects of these recent developments on all aspects of the Chinese countryside in relation to environments, policies, administration, production plans and a wide variety of regional experiences.

Frank Leeming has been involved as a geographer in Chinese study for more than twenty years, and he speaks and reads Chinese. Most of the material used in these studies is taken directly from the Chinese press and has not previously appeared in English in any form. Much of it is based on extended local reports at village, commune or country level; studies at regional level published in Chinese management and academic journals and books; discussions now in progress about the impact of policies and policy changes in various regions of the country both before 1976 and since. In terms of approach and discussion as well as factual material, the book presents a broadly based Chinese version of rural experience under the Maoists and since, together with a variety of Chinese and Western critiques. This approach embraces regional differentiation and the develop ment of rural society, technology and economy, rural living standards; commercial and management systems in the countryside; and emerging implications of the radical changes of the past few years.

Rural China Today will be welcomed by all with an interest in contemporary China or East Asia and will be of particular importance for students of geography, economics and political science. It will also appeal to the reading public who seek a deeper insight into life in China today, both in material terms and in terms of underlying systems of organisation.