Industrialization and China’s Agricultural Development, 1949–1985 (工业化与中国农业的发展，1949–1985)

Abstract

In the 1950s, Chinese agriculture received far too few modern inputs from industry, but in the 1960s–1970s, this situation was significantly improved. The chemical fertilizer industry, crucial for enhancing crop yields, saw substantial development in the later period. More chemical fertilizer was used in agricultural production, and the price of chemical fertilizer relative to agricultural products was falling. The institutional framework in rural China, which underwent frequent changes in the 1950s, was stabilized in the 1960s and 1970s with the consolidation of the three-tiered commune-brigade-team structure and the establishment of the production team as the basic managerial unit. This stabilized framework remained in place until the implementation of the household responsibility system in the early 1980s. Agricultural development in the 1960s–1970s laid the necessary material foundation for the 1979–1984 Rural Reform. Revisiting this history can help us to rethink the interrelationship between institutional change and material factors in a developing economy.在1950年代，中国农业从工业部门得到的现代化要素为数甚少，而在60–70年代，这一状况则得到显著改善。尤其是对农业增产至关重要的化肥工业，在后一阶段有了长足发展；农业生产的化肥施用量有明显的提升；同时化肥和农产品之间的比价则在持续下降。在1950年代变动频繁的农村经营制度，在1960–70年代则以“三级所有、队为基础”为核心稳定下来，直到家庭承包制实施。1960–70年代的农业发展为1979–1984年的农村改革提供了不可或缺的物质基础。检视这段历史有助于我们重新思考经济系统中制度变迁与物质基础之间的关系。 (This article is in English.)