Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin

Monday, May 25, 2015

China migration: At the turning point

Financial Times - May 4, 2015

A shrinking labour force from rural areas is driving huge economic change

When Deng Xiaoping left his rural village of Guang’an in 1919 to study in Paris, he was leaving behind a desperately poor agricultural community in Sichuan province where standards of living had barely risen in over 200 years.
Sixty years later, when Deng’s historic economic reforms unleashed a wave of migrants that powered the country’s transformation into an industrial powerhouse, his fellow villagers from Guang’an led the charge.
China’s farm output soared in the 1980s as agricultural communes were dismantled. By allowing farmers to keep a portion of what they produced, Deng gave them incentive to boost their yields. But Guang’an’s hilly landscape was unsuitable for mechanised agriculture, blunting the gains from reform.

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