Running head: CHINA GEOGRAPHY REVIEW 1

China Geography Review

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CHINA GEOGRAPHY REVIEW 2

Question 1

After the 1949 revolution in China, three broad periods of development were

experienced. These periods were characterized by rural production, rural labor, and agricultural

land. Rural production was profoundly manifested as the economy was mainly agriculture and

involved activities in the rural. Work in those farms, therefore, came from the rural dwellers.

Question 2

Mao Zedong, a communist, in 1925 saw peasants rising against their landlords due to

forced yearly taxation and high rents which made their lives a hard time surviving. Mao,

therefore, started speaking and writing in support of the peasants' uprisings which were against

the Marxist orthodoxy. He found the peasants’ passion for vigilantism as a model for revolution

rather than guiding them to the Communist Party vanguard. He justified the action of the

peasants by describing them as attackers of the local bullies and recognized them as the sole

organ of authority. Mao thus encouraged the peasants to use their maximum strength; otherwise,

they would live in the deeply rooted power of the landlords forever.

Question 3

After the war in 1949, the commune system took over China and had a several

advantages to the people. For instance, the commune system seized land from the landowner and

distributed it among the poor. Also, the formation of the state farms created employment

opportunities, for example, in 1985 more than 4.9 million people were employed in the state

farms. However, the system had a downfall in that farms were heavily dependent on the

government which failed to give farmers incentives leading low productivity. The system,

therefore, led to various instances of famine.

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Question 4

After Mao’s death, Deng took over and started making several reforms (Post-Mao

reforms). This included improvements in the agricultural sector which was previously

mismanaged by the Communist Party. The household-responsibility was therefore adopted to

divide communes into private plots. Other reforms were made in the industry sector by the

introduction of a dual-price system. This system would enable industries to sell their production

above the plan quota and sell at the market price. These reforms were based on the saying

“crossing the river by feeling the stones” as they were first tested on select areas and were later

applied to the whole country after they were proved successful.

Question 5

The reforms made by Dang ensured a steady increase in the country’s GDP and

encouraged foreign capital to enter the market. Such factors led to the establishment of China as

a global exporter consequently leading to the re-opening of the Shanghai stock exchange.

Agriculture could not keep up with the rate of globalization in China which made it be rendered

marginal by the industrial sector.

Question 6

The Hukou System originated from the 21st century BC but was implemented as a

permanent program in 1958. Initially, the system aimed at registration of personal information. It

was generally a family register. It was however later used as a control for the stream of resources

moving away from the agricultural sector. The system led to easing of restriction in migration

which contributed to labor mobility and investment opportunities. This would later result in

economic disparity in the country accounting for its commercial success. Chan later described
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this system as the “secret recipe” of economic prosperity due to its unprecedented economic

success.

Question 7

Fan describes migration as the location of Hukou registration but not the length of stay

away from home. According to her, migration occurs when an individual’s place is registered as

different from the location where they previously recorded.

Question 8

Increased labor mobility in China has led to split households. Many parents have moved

to industrialized areas in search of jobs leaving their families in rural areas. This has a brought

about a kind of disconnection within the families referred to as the split household strategy. Also,

it has led to a hollowed-out countryside whereby a lot of people have moved away from the rural

areas leaving little population in those areas.

Question 9

China has formed a program called the New Socialist Countryside due to the rural unrest

so that people in the rural areas can catch up with the cities economically. Perry argues that this

is a managed economic campaign which tends to emphasize on construction, solidarity, and

development and it is more oriented on political participation. The campaign stressed initially on

average change but evolved into a top-down campaign to demolish and reconstruct villages.

Such policies may undermine the success of the rural areas.

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References

Riskin, C. (1987). China's political economy: the quest for development since 1949 (pp. 201-

222). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Perry, E. J. (2011). From mass campaigns to managed campaigns:‘constructing a new socialist

countryside’. Mao’s invisible hand: The political foundations of adaptive governance in China,

30-61.