Rural Transformations and Development – China in Context: The Everyday Lives of Policies and People

This unique book explores the varied perspectives on contemporary processes of rural transformation and policy intervention in China. The expert contributors combine a critical review of current theoretical viewpoints and global debates with a series of case studies that document the specificities of China’s pathways to change. Central issues focus on the dynamics of state–peasant encounters; the diversification of labour and livelihoods; out-migration and the blurring of rural and urban scenarios; the significance of issues of ‘value’ and ‘capital’ and their gender implications; land ownership and sustainable resource management; struggles between administrative cadres and local actors; and the dilemmas of ‘participatory’ development. Rural Transformations and Development – China in Context will prove a fascinating and stimulating read for academics and researchers in the areas of Asian studies, development and agriculture, and public policy.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface Introduction Norman Long PART I: AGRARIAN DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE IN AN ERA OF GLOBALIZATION 1. Histories of Development, Predicaments of Modernity: Thinking About Globalization from Some Critical Development Studies Perspectives Arturo Escobar 2. Peasants, Territorial Cooperatives and the Agrarian Question Jan Douwe van der Ploeg 3. Rural Livelihoods and Agrarian Change: Bringing Class Back in Henry Bernstein 4. Value, Gender and Capital: Frameworks of Calculation in Micro-Financial Practices Magdalena Villarreal PART II: ENCOUNTERING THE STATE: PEASANT LIVELIHOOD ISSUES 5. Building Livelihoods: How Chinese Peasants Deal with State Regulation of Opportunity and Risk Flemming Christiansen 6. Land to the Tiller: The Complexities of Land Ownership and Use in a North China Village Zhao Xudong PART III: URBANIZATION OF THE COUNTRYSIDE AND MIGRATION DILEMMAS 7. Urbanization, Decentralization and the Reorganization of Rural Life Bryan Roberts 8. Rural Urbanization in Phoenix Village: Revisiting a Village in Guangdong Province Zhou Daming with Huang Xueliang 9. Growing Up and Growing Old in Rural Mexico and China: Care-giving for the Young and the Elderly at the Family–State Interface Gail Mummert 10. Rural–Urban Migration and the Plight of ‘Left-behind Children’ in Mid-west China Ye Jingzhong, Wang Yihuan and Zhang Keyun PART IV: POLITICS OF POLICY AND PARTICIPATION 11. State Policy Intervention in an Era of Civic Participation Alberto Arce 12. Stalemate of Participation: Participatory Village Development Planning for Poverty Alleviation in China Li Xiaoyun and Liu Xiaoqian 13. How Local Politics Shape Intervention Practices in the Xiaolongshan Forest Region of Gansu, NW China Liu Jinlong 14. ‘Accountability’ in Contemporary Rural China: Yu Lu Village Case Study Solange Guo Chatelard Index

About the Author :
Edited by Norman Long, Professor Emeritus, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, Adjunct Professor, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China and Honorary Fellow, White Rose East Asia Centre, University of Leeds, UK, Ye Jingzhong, Professor of Development Studies and Deputy Dean, College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China and Wang Yihuan, Professor of Development Studies, College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

Review :
‘This book is commended to rural development specialists, rural sociologists and anthropologists. These groups cover both, academics and practitioners who are interested in agrarian and development issues in China in particular and the world more generally.’ ‘Rural Transformations and Development - China in Context is a thoughtful book in both senses - penetrating and packed with ideas. True to its title, it takes the reader through the main socio-economic and political changes of Chinese rural society. The book brings together a selected group of authoritative, international experts on agricultural development with particular reference to China. It is a good read for everyone, and an eminently recommendable text for professionals and students interested in issues of China’s rural change.’ ‘This is an insightful and excellent theoretical and empirical collection about China’s contemporary agrarian transformation critically studied - not in isolation from either the urban sector or the broader world, but in relation to these. It is a must-read for academics and development policy practitioners who are interested in agrarian and development issues in China in particular and the world more generally.’ ‘Bringing together contributions by some of the leading Western scholars working on paths of rural transformation with studies by their counterparts in China, this book examines the value of contemporary development theories for understanding the specificities of China’s trajectory of change. It is a first-class contribution both to Modern China studies and to the renaissance of international research on agrarian change that is now going on. It deserves a wide readership.’