How Long to Read The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988

How Long Does it Take to Read The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988?

It takes the average reader 14 hours and 40 minutes to read The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988 by Philip C. Huang

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

How can we account for the durability of subsistence farming in China despite six centuries of vigorous commercialization from 1350 to 1950 and three decades of collectivization between 1950 to 1980? Why did the Chinese rural economy not undergo the transformation predicted by the classical models of Adam Smith and Karl Marx? In attempting to answer this question, scholars have generally treated commercialization and collectivization as distinct from population increase, the other great rural change of the past six centuries. This book breaks new ground in arguing that in the Yangzi delta, China's most advanced agricultural region, population increase was what drove commercialization and collectivization, even as it was made possible by them. The processes at work, which the author terms involutionary commercialization and involutionary growth, entailed ever-increasing labor input per unit of land, resulting in expanded total output but diminishing marginal returns per workday. In the Ming-Qing period, involution usually meant a switch to more labor-intensive cash crops and low-return household sidelines. In post-revolutionary China, it typically meant greatly intensified crop production. Stagnant or declining returns per workday were absorbed first by the family production unit and then by the collective. The true significance of the 1980's reforms, the author argues, lies in the diversion of labour from farming to rural industries and profitable sidelines and the first increases for centuries in productivity and income per workday. With these changes have come a measure of rural prosperity and the genuine possibility of transformative rural development. By reconstructing Ming-Qing agricultural history and drawing on twentieth-century ethnographic data and his own field investigations, the author brings his large themes down to the level of individual peasant households. Like his acclaimed The Peasant Economy and Social Change in North China (1985), this study is noteworthy for both its empirical richness and its theoretical sweep, but it goes well beyond the earlier work in its inter-regional comparisons and its use of the pre- and post-1949 periods to illuminate each other.

How long is The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988?

The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988 by Philip C. Huang is 880 pages long, and a total of 220,000 words.

This makes it 297% the length of the average book. It also has 269% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988 Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 20 hours and 2 minutes to read The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988 aloud.

What Reading Level is The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988?

The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988 is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988?

The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988 by Philip C. Huang is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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