Foreword
Chapter 1 China's Time—honored Agricultural Civilization／1
Section 1 The Origin and Creation of Chinese Agriculture／3
Section 2 The Oriental Mindset and Four Millennia of Agriculture／26
Section 3 The Main Agricultural Systems in Ancient China／39
Chapter 2 Painful Exploration of Agricultural and Rural Development／59
Section 1 New China： Dirt Poor and All to Be Done／61
Section 2 Rural Land Reform： Striking Where It Hurt／72
Section 3 Formation of the State Monopoly on Purchasing and Marketing System／80
Section 4 The Cooperation Movement and the People's Commune System／92
Section 5 Why China Chose the Development Path of Rural Collective Land Ownership／105
Chapter 3 Huge Rural Changes： From Reform and Opening Up to the Turn of the New Millennium／115
Section 1 Agricultural Production Returned to Farming Households／117
Section 2 Gradual Revival of the Market Mechanism for Farm Produce／131
Section 3 Boom in Rural Economy Under Multiple Ownership Systems／141
Section 4 From Rural Labor to Human Capital／158
Chapter 4 Establishment of the Policy System to Boost Agriculture，Benefit Fafmers，and Increase Their Incomes in the New Millennium／169
Section 1 Establishment of 'Top Priority ldeology／173
Section 2 New Campaign to Develop Modern Agriculture／182
Section 3 Great Efforts to Increase Farmers' Incomes／195
Section 4 Building a New Socialist Countryside／210
Section 5 Resolutely Fighting for Victory in the Battle Against Poverty／231
Section 6 Better Protection of Farmers' Land—Centered Property Rights／242
Section 7 Establishing Institutions for Integrated Urban and Rural Development／258
Section 8 Improving the Rural Governance Mechanism／271
Section 9 Outlook for the Future Development of China's Agriculture and Rural Areas／281
Bibliography／299
Sample Pages Preview
On August 4，1958，Mao visited Xushui County.Although the yield per mu in 1957 was only 69 kg，they claimed that the yield per mu in 1958 could reach 1，000 kg and that annual output could reach 0.6 billion kg.On August 5，Zhang Guozhong，first secretary of the CPC Xushui County Committee，gave a speech 'The March to Communism.' He declared that the county's 248 rural cooperatives were now a people's commune.On August 22，Xushui County produced 'A Draft Plan for Accelerating the Construction of Socialism and Marching to Communism，' which proposed the goal to 'basicalhr complete socialist construction by 1959，start to make the transiUon to communism，and convert the society into the great communist society by 1963.' Following Mao's endorsement of their work，Xushui County became the 'star county' and 'Commurust pilot county' of the 'Great Leap Forward.'
