Synopses & Reviews
Zouping offers important general lessons for the study of China's rural transformation. The authors in this volume, all participants in a unique field research project undertaken from 1988 to 1992, address questions that are far from simple and about which there is some controversy.
The questions are grouped around two issues. The first is the role of local governments as economic actors. What is this role, how have they played it, and how can we explain their behavior? Have they dominated rural economies through public ownership of industry and local planning, or has the role of local governments diminished with the rise of market transactions and private ownership? The second issue is market reform and inequality. Have rural cadres enjoyed income advantages in the new market environment? Has the provision of such collective services as education and health care declined, leading to new forms of inequality?
The chapters on the role of local government all point to a single conclusion: one cannot explain the rapid development of Zouping without reference to the role of local governments and of local government officials as economic actors. Scholarly writings about the "transitional economies" have often ignored or distorted this aspect of China's reform experience. On the second issue, changes in inequality owing to market reform, the authors present mixed findings but contribute rich new data to the research on this issue.
Review
No review can do justice to all the significant findings of this rich volume...The book addresses some of the knottier issues that have dominated scholarship for a decade or more, presenting provocative new material and findings. Future debates on these issues must address the work on Zouping collected here. Michelle S. Mood
Review
No review can do justice to all the significant findings of this rich volume...The book addresses some of the knottier issues that have dominated scholarship for a decade or more, presenting provocative new material and findings. Future debates on these issues must address the work on Zouping collected here. -- Publishers Weekly
Review
Andrew Walder makes a major addition to our understanding of the economic role of county government in the reform period...In this highly interesting book, Zouping comes to the fore as a rather sleepy county which is pushed by outside forces into modernity with all its problems. The volume is a major addition to our understanding of institutional change, cadres and policies in North China. China Journal
Review
[A] well-researched and timely book. Eduard B. Vermeer - China Information
Review
The introductory chapter by Andrew Walder starts with rich statistics to situate Zouping county in rural China. He then spells out the objectives of this volume
[his] goals are ably accomplished by the next seven chapters that are based on empirical studies using data from interviews, observations, official statistics, and survey data from a unique research project undertaken from 1988 to 1993
The book provides valuable insights into the process which local government shapes the development and stratification of a country in northern China. It is an important and timely rendering of the rural reforms and will prompt researchers on transitional societies to focus on the forces that shape the dynamics of transition. Colin Mackerras - Asian Studies Review
Review
This is a unique book that brings together interdisciplinary research on one county by outstanding China scholars. Xiaoling Shu - Contemporary Sociology
Synopsis
Zouping offers important general lessons for the study of China's rural transformation. The authors in this volume, all participants in a unique field research project undertaken from 1988 to 1992, address questions concerning the role of local governments as economic actors, market reform, and inequality.
About the Author
Andrew G. Walder is Denise O'Leary and Kent Thiry Professor of Sociology, and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University.
Stanford University
Table of Contents
Preface
Zouping in Perspective
Andrew G. Walder
Local Governments as Economic Actors
The Evolution of Local State Corporatism
Jean C. Oi
The County Government as an Industrial Corporation
Andrew G. WaIder
Fengjia: A Village in Transition
Huang Shu-min and Stewart Odend'hal
Establishing Markets: The Process of Commercialization in Agriculture
Terry Sicular
Distributional Consequences of Reform
Work, Wealth, and Power in Agriculture: Do Political Connections Affect the Returns to Household Labor?
Sarah Cook
Preventive Health Care: Privatization and the Public Good
Gail Henderson and T. Scott Stroup
Making Schools Modern: Paradoxes of Educational Reform
Lynn W. Paine
Notes
Contributors
Tables
Growth and diversification of Zouping's rural economy, 1976-1993
Growth of industry in Zouping, by level of ownership, 1980-1993
The shift from agriculture to industry in Zouping, 1980-1993
Zouping county fiscal and budgetary trends, 1980-1992
Zouping's rural development compared with national averages,1993
A comparison of Zouping with Nanhai County, Guangdong, 1993
The shift from public to private industry in Zouping, 1980-1993
Commune and brigade industry in Zouping, 1976-1983
Zouping township and village enterprise tax exemptions,1980-1989
Zouping county industry, output, and number of firms by type, 1988 and 1993
Sources of county revenue, 1988 and 1992
Zouping County's top ten revenue-generating enterprises, 1992
Population, farmland, and mechanical power in Fengjia,1949-1986
Yearly agricultural production in Fengjia, 1949-1986
Gross income from village enterprises, 1985 and 1986
Increases in per capita and gross domestic production in Fengjia, 1970-1988
Basic economic data, Zouping County, 1988-1992
Indicators of the level of commercialization in Zouping, 1988-1992
Farm household purchases of farm products in Zouping, 1990
Farm household sales of farm products in Zouping, 1990
Farm household income and its composition in Zouping, 1990
Distribution of farm households by share of income from nonagricultural business and wages in Zouping, 1990
Trade at periodic markets in Zouping, 1988-1992
Composition of social retail sales in Zouping, 1988-1992
Zouping County purchases of agricultural products from farmers, 1988 and 1992
Procurement of grain by the grain bureau in Zouping, 1978-1993
Procurement of wheat and corn by the grain bureau in Zouping, 1985-1993
Grain prices in Zouping County, 1980-1993
Cotton procurement by the state cotton and hemp company in Zouping, 1978-1993
Implicit taxes and subsidies associated with planned procurement of farm products in Zouping, 1990
Structure of the labor force in Zouping, 1993
Individual and household employment by activity, 1990
Composition of household income by per capita income quartile, 1990
Quartile share of income by source, 1990
Marginal and average products of labor (yuan per day)
Average daily earnings from wage employment (yuan)
Tests for differences in means of marginal product of labor by household political characteristics
Zouping County socioeconomic and health indicators
Infectious disease incidence per 10,000 people in Zouping County, 1965-1989
Hospital admissions by diagnostic categories, for county-level hospitals, 1986
Hospitals in four townships
Village-based health resources
Promotion rate to junior high school, 1978-1991
Number of elementary schools and students in Zouping, 1950-1990
Number of secondary schools and students in Zouping, 1978-1990
Changes in the structure of Zouping secondary education, 1986-1990
Funding for ordinary and central township junior high schools, Sunzhen township, 1985-1990
Maps
China, with Shandong Province and Zouping County
Shandong Province
Zouping County
Figures
Monthly wheat prices, Zouping County, 1990-1991
Monthly corn prices, Zouping County, 1990-1991