Peasant Economy Before Collectivization: A Study Of Rural Donghai Of Xu-hai, 1930-52

The peasant economy before collectivization represents the terminal epoch of the thousand years existing peasant economy in traditional China. My dissertation breaks into the topic by making an illustrational survey on the region of Xu-hai, in particular Donghai County, in 1930-52, the region of which is located in the southern part of the North China Plain, with agriculture being the leading sector of its economy. During the period under study, rural society had seen great changes in this region. The traditional peasants have transformed into New Democratic peasants during the Land Reform, and then have gone on the road of Socialism. The peasant economy of this period not only led to the end of the traditional small-scale farming, but also enlightens the new road of peasant economy since 1979.This article concentrates on the three hot topics in the field of Economic History, including the merits and faults of small-scale family-management system in agricultural economy, rural economy and peasants'living in the middle of the twentieth century and the relationship between the Land Reform and the small-scale peasant economy. Based on the analyses of relevant academic works, this thesis penetrates the distinctions of their rationalities and limitations, what is more, combining theoretical thoughts and empirical studies. Due to the complexity of the researching candidate, after checkup and analysis the whole article synthetically adopts public publications, local archives'documents, interview records and so on, so the origins of historical materials are rather diverse, and the conduct of the historical process is relatively objective.The thesis considers that the productivity level of Xu-hai Area during the period of 1930 to 1952 has experienced a U-shape, that is, from a relatively high level before the war to a decline during the war time, then recovery at the beginning of the 1950s. The land right distribution is gradually balanced as a result of war and social turbulence and the Land Reform successively. During the short period after the Land Reform, it inclines to imbalance a little bit. Under different circumstances, the relationship between man and land, the productivity level and social relationship together constitute the basic problem of the countryside. In order to meet the people's basic needs, to exploit labor force as much as possible is the most important social task at that time. The Small-scale Peasant Economy holds a leading role among the various economic forms and plays an important part in exploiting family labor force and achieving comparatively higher output. However, at the same time, the social labor force has not been made full use of; peasants'living problems have never been completely solved and the productivity level has never really increased to a great extent. The Land Reform is widely conducted in the time of war and achieves success at last. It temporarily soothes the survival crisis of the peasants, and brings up prevalent yeoman farming economy. It is the need of improving productivity and maintaining the people's survival. However, this kind of economy may be unlikely to exist permanently. The underlying social problems caused by relationship of man and land and productivity level are impossible to be thoroughly solved in one reform, but it will have a long-term influence on the historical process.