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Historical Background |
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| Unlike the
Soviet economic reforms, which were aimed at large industries, Deng's
reforms began with agriculture. The socialist collectives were dismantled and
peasant families, under the responsibility system, were rewarded
for agricultural yields beyond a certain prescribed level. Some peasants
were even permitted to take produce beyond these levels and sell it in
local markets for personal profit. Beginning in the early 1980s, the responsibility
system was spread to many other areas of the nation and the percentage
of land peasants could devote for local markets began to rise. [1]
Throughout these reforms, however, ownership of the land worked by the peasants remained securely in the hands of the state. Thus the peasants could never benefit from the appreciation of land value, they could not use land as collateral for personal loans, and were subject to vacate land at the whim of the state--a reality that remains the subject of severe peasant unrest up to this day.[2] Nevertheless, the transformations resulting from these initial agricultural reforms (other reforms were forthcoming) were unprecedented in world history in terms of their magnitude and rapidity. In six years grain yield rose by 50 percent. The average income in China doubled twice in 20 years and the per capita GDP went from $170 to $4400. 300 million people rose above the poverty level in a few decades, a phenomenon unmatched in history. Deng's reforms put cash in the hands of China's poorest citizens--the peasants--but they were soon afterwards to have a dramatic affect on China's urban centers as well. |
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