Topic 4 - Agricultural and Industrial Developments Flashcards
In what decade did China see the beginning of a significant increase in growth in both the agricultural and industrial sector?
The 1910s
What was the good that showed a significant increase in output in the first half of the 20th century?
Cotton yarn
What was the argument of the “pessimists” in relation to traditional agriculture and handicraft?
They argued that modern industry and foreign exports helped destroy traditional agriculture and handicraft, leading to a real decline in living standards
How could the pessimists view of the destruction of traditional agriculture be explained?
These pessimists views are associated with the Malthusian view of “involution” where peasants were pushed by declining land-labor ratio to engage very low value-added handicraft activities in order earn a living
What was the argument of the “optimists” as a counter to the pessimists in relation to traditional agriculture and handicraft?
They argued that trade and opening-up led to increased commercialization and hence a more regional specialization and reallocation of resources. These lead to a rise in overall living standards.
How was land distributed in the 1930s?
The top 5% owned 38.7 percent of land and 25% of rural households were landless
Why could the argument of unequal land distribution not be valid?
The level of inequality in land ownership was far smaller in China than in Victorian England or in Mexico in the 1920s
What did Brandt and Sands argue about using land ownership to measure inequality?
It is misleading as the Gini coefficients for cultivated holdings and for income were even lower
What may explain the lower Gini coefficients of cultivated holdings and incomes?
Cultivated holdings: Most large land owners rented out their land rather than cultivating on it
Incomes: There was an active labour market in and outside of agriculture which shows the importance of non-agricultural income
Brandt and Sands
Why does the handicraft sector (particularly in the case of cotton textile support the argument of the pessimists?
Machine-spun yarn replaced traditional hand-spinning and hence a large part of traditional household production
Why could the handicraft sector be used to argue against the pessimist opinion?
Cheaply available machine-spun yarn have stimulated the growth of hand-weaving in areas or districts that previously had engaged little in commercialized weaving production.
Also, the development of weaving proceeded very differently from that of spinning: the use of handloom dominated over power-loom: 70 to 80% cloth produced in China during the 1930s still came out of handloom.
Why was the handloom so popular even though the power-loom existed?
The productivity differential between the handloom and power-loom was only 1 to 4 for weaving. Also, weaving requires greater personal skills and produces more differentiated products which are amenable to small scale household production.
Give an example of a rise in an industry as a result of modernisation.
The development of machinery and heavy industries in Manchuria (Northeastern China) under Japanese colonialism
Why did the technological inertia persist in China after the Song dynasty? What are the 3 explanations?
Richardson: Change was not necessary or perceived as desirable.
Political: Confucian political empire designed to perpetuate an expanding agrarian empire remained intact.
Economic: Population growth could continue to be accommodated without technological transformation.
Cultural: Backward-looking culture. Long-standing ideas, attitudes and practices inherent in the traditional political economy took time to be broken down.
Why is the traditional industry highly resistant facing the competition from modern industry (using the cotton textile industry as an example)?
- Price
- Quality
- Demand for traditional products
- Nature of the production unit
