SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis analyzes aspects of rural income in the South Chinese province of Guangdong during the period 1952 to 1957. Its focus is upon rural personal income, i.e. income in cash and in kind available to rural dwellers for the consumption of goods and services. It uses primarily Chinese language materials, of which the most important is the daily newspaper of Guangdong province, the Nan-fang Ri-bao (Southern Daily). It examines five related issues. (1) The average level of personal income of the Guangdong farm population in the mid-1950's: this is looked at in financial terms, in terms both of the level of consumption of goods and services that it provided, and the energy consumption given by the food intake. (2) Changes in the average level of rural income between 1952 and 1957. Here the author analyzes changes in farm output, in the conditions of disposal of farm output as well as direct evidence on changes in the average level of personal income. (3) The relationship between urban and rural incomes: the author examines the extent of the gap in personal income between the two sectors in the mid-1950's, looks at evidence on changer in the gap between 1952 and 1957, and at government policy towards the issue. (4) The spatial aspect of rural income inequality: the inherited structure of regional inequality in the province is outlined, and an assessment made of the impact upon this of the economic policies of the post-1949 government. (5) Inequality of income within, the village: the author outlines briefly the nature of the inherited structure in Guangdong's villages, and examines the impact on this of three phases in post-1949 policy-land reform, the period .from the end of land reform to collectivisation, and collectivisation itself. In the conclusion to the thesis the author summarises his results for the period 1952 to 1957, and outlines the long-run experience of the province in the 1960's and 1970's in respect to these same issues.