STUDIES ON THE CHINESE ECONOMY General Editors: Peter Nolan, Lecturer in Economics and Politics, University of Cambridge, and Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics, Jesus College, Cambridge, England; and Dong Fureng, Professor, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China This series analyses issues in China's current economic development, and sheds light upon that process by examining China's economic history. It contains a wide range of books on the Chinese economy past and present, and includes not only studies written by leading Western authorities, but also translations of the most important works on the Chinese economy produced within China. It intends to make a major contribution towards understanding this immensely important part of the world economy. Published titles include: Bozhong Li AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN JIANGNAN, 1620-1850 Alfred H. Y. Lin THE RURAL ECONOMY OF GUANGDONG, 1870-1937 Nicholas K. Menzies FOREST AND LAND MANAGEMENT IN IMPERIAL CHINA SINCE THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY Ryoshin Minami THE ECONOMIC REFORM OF CHINA Peter Nolan STATE AND MARKET IN THE CHINESE ECONOMY Yuming Sheng INTERSECTORAL RESOURCE FLOWS AND CHINA'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Hong Wang CHINA'S EXPORTS SINCE 1979 Wang Xiao-qiang CHINA'S PRICE AND ENTERPRISE REFORM
Shangquan Gao CHINA'S ECONOMIC REFORM Xiaoping Xu CHINA'S FINANCIAL SYSTEM UNDER TRANSITION Malcolm Warner THE MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN CHINESE INDUSTRY Tim Wright (editor) THE CHINESE ECONOMY IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY Yanrui Wu PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF CHINESE ENTERPRISES Haiqun Yang BANKING AND FINANCIAL CONTROL IN REFORMING PLANNED ECONOMIES Shujie Yao AGRICULTURAL REFORMS AND GRAIN PRODUCTION IN CHINA Xun-Hai Zhang ENTERPRISE REFORMS IN A CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMY Ng Sek Hong and Malcolm Warner CHINA'S TRADE UNIONS AND MANAGEMENT
The Rural Economy of Guangdong,1870-1937 A Study of the Agrarian Crisis and its Origins in Southernmost China Alfred H. Y. Lin Associate J>rofessor Departmelll of History University of Hong Kong
First published in Great Britain 1997 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-40254-0 ISBN 978-0-230-37176-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230371767 ~-.. --.. ------ ------ First published in the United States of America 1997 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-17594-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lin, A. (Alfred) The rural economy of Guangdong, 1870-1937 : a study of the agrarian crisis and its origins in southernmost China I Alfred H.Y. Lin. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-17594-8 I. Agriculture-Economic aspects-china-k wang tung Province -History. 2. Kwangtung Province (China)-Rural conditions. I. Title. HD2100.K85L56 1997 338.1'0951'27-dc21 97-13959 C!P ---------------- --..------ ------ Alfred H. Y. Lin 1997 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1997 978-0-333-69999-7 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Totten ham Court Road, London W l P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be 1 iable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. TI1e author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 06 05 04 03 02 01 4 3 2 00 99 98 97
To Charles A. Cur wen
Contents List of Tables List of Figures Preface xi xiii xiv 1 Introduction 1 Contemporary Views of the Agrarian Crisis 1 The Agrarian Crisis Re-examined: 'Optimists' versus 'Pessimists' 3 Scope of Study 10 Methodology and Sources 13 2 The Man-Land Ratio and its Effects on Agriculture 19 The Historical Record of Population Growth 19 The Historical Record of Increase in Cultivated Land 27 The Geographical Distribution of Population and Cultivated Land 31 The Effects of an Unfavourable Man-Land Ratio on Farm-Size 31 The Fragmentation of Farmland 36 Conclusion 37 3 Paddy Production and the Problem of Rice Shortage 39 Productivity of Paddy Fields 40 Output and Consumption 45 The Importation of Rice 48 Conclusion 56 4 Trade and the Transformation of the Rural Economy 57 Real Growth in Trade: Guangzhou and Shantou 58 The Nature of Trade and Its Impact on the Rural Economy: The Late Qing Period 67 The Nature of Trade and Its Impact on the Rural Economy: The Republican Period up to 1937 80 Conclusion 87 VII
Vlll Contents 5 Land Tax, Surtaxes, Miscellaneous Fees and Extra-Legal Charges 89 The Land Tax under the Qing 90 The Land Tax under the Republic 102 Conclusion 113 6 Landlord-Tenant Relations 115 The Incidence of Tenancy: Limitations of the Traditional Approach 115 The Institutional Landlords 121 The Secondary Landlords 125 The Military Landlords 128 Forms and Rates of Rent 131 Conclusion 136 7 Sources of Credit and Overseas Remittances 138 Pawnshops 140 Moneylenders and Usurers 145 Rotating Credit Associations 150 Credit Cooperatives 153 Emigration and Overseas Remittances 156 Conclusion 160 8 Conclusion 162 Appendix 170 Notes 188 Bibliography 205 Index 221
Tables 2.1 Population growth in Guangdong, 1661-1953 20 2.2 The distribution of marriage-age groups in rural South China, 1929-31 26 2.3 Increase in cultivated acreage in Guangdong, 1661-1940 28 2.4 Percentages of peasant households under different farm-size categories in Republican Guangdong 35 2.5 Average farm-size in Guangdong in the 1930s 36 3.1 Productivity of paddy fields in Guangdong in the 1930s 41 3.2 Paddy output and consumption in Guangdong in the 1930s 46 3.3 The importation of rice into Guangdong, 1875-1937 50 4.1 Trade statistics of Guangzhou, 1875-1937 59 4.2 Trade statistics of Shantou, 1875-1937 61 4.3 The equivalents of the haiguan Hang (hk tl) in British pounds and American dollars, 1875-1937 64 4.4 Indexes of real growth in trade at Guangzhou, 1875-1937 65 4.5 Indexes of real growth in trade at Shantou, 1875-1937 65 4.6 The main items of trade at Guangzhou and Shantou, 1880 68 4.7 The main items of trade at Guangzhou and Shantou, 1896 72 4.8 The main items of trade at Guangzhou, 1911 78 5.1 Statutory tax per mu of land in Qing Guangdong 91 5.2 Rates of land tax collection and an approximation of land tax revenue in Guangdong, c.1908 95 5.3 Rates of dingmi collection in Guangdong, 1930 107 5.4 Increase of the general land tax in Guangdong, 1908-30 107 5.5 A comparison of taxed acreage, tax quotas and tax per mu of agricultural land in Guangdong before and after the inauguration of the provisional land tax 112 6.1 Tenancy in Guangdong in the 1920s 117 6.2 Distribution of rural classes and of landownership among these classes in Guangdong in the mid-1930s 120 6.3 Rates of fixed rent in kind and fixed cash rent in Guangdong in the mid-1930s 134 IX
x Tables 7.1 The credit situation in 49 counties of Guangdong, 1933-34 139 7.2 Statistics of pawnshops in Guangdong in the early 1930s 144 7.3 Prevalent forms of usury in Guangdong in the 1920s 148 7.4 The development of credit cooperatives in Guangdong, 1934-37 154 7.5 The distribution of overseas Chinese investment capital in the emigrant communities of Guangdong, 1875-1937 159 A.l Average farm-size in the 94 counties of Guangdong in the 1930s 170 A.2 Paddy acreage, output and consumption in the 94 counties of Guangdong in the 1930s 172 A.3 Statutory tax per mu of land in various counties/subprefectures of Qing Guangdong 175 A.4 Rates of land tax collection in various counties/subprefectures of Guangdong and an approximation of the land tax revenue of this province, c.1908 177 A.5 Rates of dingmi collection in the 94 counties of Guangdong, 1930 180 A.6 A comparison of taxed acreage, tax quotas and tax per mu of agricultural land in the 94 counties of Guangdong before and after the inauguration of the provisional land tax 183
Figures 1.1 The six geographical regions of Guangdong 15 2.1 Population density in Guangdong in the 1930s 32 2.2 Density of farmland in Guangdong in the 1930s 33 XI
Preface I started my research on the rural economy of modern China back in the 1970s when I was a doctoral candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. I am most indebted to my dissertation supervisor, Charles Curwen, for stimulating my interest in the subject and providing me with the basic training as an historian. He has always been a source of inspiration and encouragement, a kind teacher and a true friend. Jack Gray and James Watson, who served as examiners, had also made useful comments on my dissertation and provided me with much food for thought. I have followed the lively debate on the Chinese rural economy ever since. The proliferation of scholarly works and accessibility of new primary materials impressed upon me the need to reconsider some of my earlier views on the subject, and I became more and more convinced that commitment to any particular mode of explanation or paradigm will run the risks of over-simplifying, and thus distorting, a complex historical reality which was actually rife with contradictions. This prompted me to pursue the subject further and substantially revise my dissertation with a view to sharing my thoughts with those interested in modern China's rural problems. Over the many years of rethinking and rewriting that went into this book, I have benefited immensely from people who commented on the papers given by me at various conferences and seminars: International Conference on the History of the Ming-Ch'ing [Qing] Periods (Hong Kong); International Conference on Regional Social and Economic History of the Qing Period (Shenzhen); Conference on the Social and Economic History of Guangdong Province (Dianbai); 12th Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia (Hong Kong); and 'post-graduate and staff seminars' organized by the Department of History, University of Hong Kong. To them I am thankful. I would also like to thank the staff of the School of Oriental and African Studies Library, Hong Kong University Library and Zhongshan Tushuguan (Guangzhou) where I did most of my research. Special thanks are due to Li Longqian and Ye Xianen for their unfailing advice and interest in my work. Takeshi Hamashita, Daniel Y.K. Kwan and Peter Nolan have kindly read through the entire manuscript and offered valuable opinions for which I am particularly grateful. Needless to say, I alone am responsible for all xn
Preface xm faults that remain in this book. Last but not least, I want to thank my wife Amy and my son Eric for standing by me through all these years. Without their continuous moral support, this book would not have seen the light of day. ALFRED H.Y. LIN