The Rural Economy of Guangdong, 1870-1937 A Study of the Agrarian Crisis and Its Origins in Southernmost China

This study traces the origins of the agrarian crisis in southernmost China in the 1920s and 1930s. The author has singled out six key aspects of the rural economy for investigation: the man-land ratio, paddy production, trade, land tax, rent and credit operation. What emerges from his findings is the picture of a traditional economy that had come under the pressure of internal and external dynamics of change since the nineteenth century. It shows the deep-rooted and multifaceted nature of the agrarian crisis, and highlights the importance of technological and institutional remedies of China's rural problems.