The Natural Environment,Nation And Farmers' Livelihood

Confronted with the problem of land salinization,people have adopted a series of countermeasures including irrigation and the adjustment of crop structure.Influenced by technology,investment and varied natural conditions,there is limited improvement of salinized land and people are forced to make the production adapt to environment.Among the production processes,scraped surface alkali soil by leaching brine,boiled salt soil production processes,soil nitrate and other products is a distinctive use of alkali land,this production distributed in Hebei Henan Shaanxi Shanxi Shandong province.Soil salt production is not only a issue of salt industry but more a reflection of the process of local development during which people balance the relationship between land,irrigation and people,the three elements traditionally concerned by the government in terms of regional economic development.Previous studies have been more on the relationship between soil salt and national order from the perspective of salt industry and less on the elements of land,water and population,let alone the systematic study of the continual producer of soil salt.Therefore from the view of soil salt producers,the thesis sorts out the process of formation of the so-called soil salt household in the 1950s as well of the transfer of jobs motivated by the government and explore the relationship between the region's natural environment,national institutions and farmers' livelihoods.The study reveals that Shanxi has a long history of soil salt production yet the group of soil salt household in the 1950s is characterized by the complementary production of agriculture and salt and is formed under the influence of regional context and the long-term impact of the national system.During the soil salt adjustment process in the late Qing Dynasty,this group having the common interests faced with the state management policy gradually work together and pose a threat to social order.In the 1950s during the processing of solving Shanxi earth salt problem,the government is actually dealing with the "worker or farmer" earth salts households groups.The formation of this group reflects the full use of salinization land in central Shanxi regional development process.According to the general logic of land reform,farmers owing land should join the agricultural production,but the situation is different in salinized areas.In the process of being transferred,Soil Salt families are expected by the government to be engaged in agricultural production.But the natural environment poses a lot of difficulties to the transfer of jobs.The study found that in salinized zone along the river in central Shanxi village,the villager is involved in system of production to conquer unfavorable natural conditions.The system is centered on soil salts households and takes the form of centric scrapers,helpers,transport and marketing.At the same time,exchange of edible salt and brine used as fertilizer also establishes more contacts between these regions and surrounding areas.We cannot overstate the role of soil salt groups in the regional economy yet it is undeniable that such intra-regional interests have a huge impact on the country's soil salt household jobs policy.Little has achieved by using sea salt to offset soil salt and publicizing the harmful effect of soil salt by means of modern science knowledge,yet the combination of job-transfer and political publicity in the form of "patriotic jobs plan" make most of households finally give up soil salt production.However,once the policy eases,soil salt production will start again.After the establishment of cooperatives,soil salt is produced mainly in the form of collective sideline production,the focus in some area will be shifted to the production of agricultural fertilizer in response to the advocate of government.This demonstrates the lasting impact of the regional environment on local rural economy.In addition,national mobilization to covert soil salt producer into farmer also shows the governmental efforts to match the farmer' s name and job and cultivate professional farmers.Despite a variety of reasons,diversified livelihoods in the form of collectivism still exist,but individual professional farmer under collectivism plays an important role in the formation of Chinese contemporary social structure.