Author: Matthew Noellert Publisher: University of Michigan Press ISBN: 0472127101 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 359
Book Description
Following the end of World War II in 1945, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spent the next three decades carrying out agrarian reform among nearly one-third of the world’s peasants. This book presents a new perspective on the first step of this reform, when the CCP helped redistribute over 40 million hectares of land to over three hundred million impoverished peasants in the nationwide land reform movement. This land reform, the founding myth of the People’s Republic of China (1949–present) and one of the largest redistributions of wealth and power in history, embodies the idea that an equal distribution of property will lead to social and political equality. Power Over Property argues that in practice, however, the opposite occurred: the redistribution of political power led to a more equal distribution of property. China’s land reform was accomplished not only through the state’s power to define the distribution of resources, but also through village communities prioritizing political entitlements above property rights. Through the systematic analysis of never-before studied micro-level data on practices of land reform in over five hundred villages, Power Over Property demonstrates how land reform primarily involved the removal of former power holders, the mobilization of mass political participation, and the creation of a new social-political hierarchy. Only after accomplishing all of this was it possible to redistribute land. This redistribution, moreover, was determined by political relations to a new structure of power, not just economic relations to the means of production. The experience of China’s land reform complicates our understanding of the relations between economic, social, and political equality. On the one hand, social equality in China was achieved through political, not economic means. On the other hand, the fundamental solution was a more effective hierarchy of fair entitlements, not equal rights. This book ultimately suggests that focusing on economic equality alone may obscure more important social and political dynamics in the development of the modern world.
Author: John Thomson Publisher: Theclassics.Us ISBN: 9781230212180 Category : Languages : en Pages : 76
Book Description
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER V. CHINESE CITIES AND VILLAGES. A Chinese city viewed from a distance--Fire walls--Suburbs--Foochow-f u--The great bridge--Streets--Shops--Signboards--Walls --Boats--Villages--Huts--Village life--Village warfare--Hired braves--Robbers--Government interference--Settled communities. The typical Chinese city, when viewed from a distance, presents a vast area of tiled roofs, rising to a nearly uniform height, and a network of narrow alleys and streets. In most of the densely populated towns the roads are so contracted and the overlapping eaves of the houses so broad as to convey the idea that the place is made up of one unbroken mass of human dwellings; but in cities, such as Peking and Nanking, there are many straight wide roads and open breathing spaces. These two cities, however, are the ancient and modern capitals of China, for which reason they were specially laid out to accommodate the imperial Court and the aristocracy. In towns, where available space is really of greater importance to the people, sunlight and pure air appear to be carefully excluded, hence all the inhabitants who may desire to cheer themselves by a glimpse of the blue sky and a draught of the passing breeze must resort to their house-tops, which are commonly decked with rows of fragrant flowers set out in pots, and surrounded with ornamental rails marking the limits of a small wooden platform. Running along the ridges of the roofs numerous jars may also be seen filled with water to the brim so as to afford a ready resource in case of fire. They have no fire engines, and indeed only those of the most portable kind would be of any service, since otherwise they could never be conveyed to the scene of a conflagration. We may also notice that the close packed...
Author: Yi Wu Publisher: University of Hawaii Press ISBN: 9780824876807 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Negotiating Rural Land Ownership in Southwest China offers the first comprehensive analysis of how China’s current system of land ownership has evolved over the past six decades. Based on extended fieldwork in Yunnan Province, the author explores how the three major rural actors—local governments, village communities, and rural households—have contested and negotiated land rights at the grassroots level, thereby transforming the structure of rural land ownership in the People’s Republic of China. At least two million rural settlements (or “natural villages”) are estimated to exist in China today. Formed spontaneously out of settlement choices over extended periods of time, these rural settlements are fundamentally different from the present-day administrative villages imposed by the government from above. Yi Wu’s historical ethnography sheds light on such “natural villages” and their role in shaping the current land ownership system. Drawing on local land disputes, archival documents, and rich local histories, the author unveils their enduring social identities in both the Maoist and reform eras. She pioneers the concept of “bounded collectivism” to describe what resulted from struggles between the Chinese state trying to establish collective land ownership, and rural settlements seeking exclusive control over land resources within their traditional borders. A particular contribution of this book is that it provides a nuanced understanding of how and why China’s rural land ownership is changing in post-Mao China. Yi Wu uses village-level data to show how local governments, rural communities, and rural households compete for use, income, and transfer rights in both agricultural production and the land market. She demonstrates that the current rural land ownership system in China is not a static system imposed by the state from above, but a constantly changing hybrid.
Author: J 1837-1921 Thomson Publisher: Sagwan Press ISBN: 9781296898205 Category : Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author: John Thomson Publisher: Sagwan Press ISBN: 9781376580921 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author: Bobbie Kalman Publisher: Crabtree Publishing Company ISBN: 9780778792994 Category : Juvenile Nonfiction Languages : en Pages : 38
Book Description
New Topics: The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangzi, is the world's largest. Construction has displaced many people but it is hoped the dam will tame the river's annual floods and provide hydro-electric power. China's booming economy and the reforms that have happened in the past 10 years. The status of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Author: J. Thomson Publisher: Forgotten Books ISBN: 9781330074831 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
Excerpt from The Land and the People of China: A Short Account of the Geography, History, Religion, Social Life, Art, Industries, and Government of China Ad Its People The geographical position which China occupies in Eastern Asia, and the physical features of the country itself are so remarkable, as in some measure to account both for the antiquity of the empire, and for the long-continued isolation of its people. Shut in all round by the vast mountain chains of Manchuria, Mongolia, and Thibet, the dependencies of the modern empire, and watered by a river system unsurpassed in the world, the low-lying plains of China proper were prepared for tillage, in times long previous to the advent of their present inhabitants, by a gradual process of denudation in the highlands, and the resulting deposit of alluvia carried seawards with the streams. The land was thus made ready for its busy occupants, and the soil rendered suitable by its depth and richness for maintaining a large population. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Author: Brian J. DeMare Publisher: ISBN: 9781503609518 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 240
Book Description
Land Wars: The Story of China's Agrarian Revolution explores how Mao's narrative of rural revolution became a reality, at great human cost.