| Journal Call no. | G1.A83 |
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| Author | Kirkby, R. J. R. |
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| Article Title | Environmental constraints on China's rural urbanisation strategy : an essay of the past, present and future / R.J.R. Kirkby. |
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| Is Part Of | Asian geographer : a geographical journal on Asia and the Pacific Rim ; v.15, no.1 & 2, 1996, p.123-141. |
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| Abstract | While the achievements of the town and village enterprises (TVEs) are legion in China, the article inverts the standard judgment by suggesting that the TVE sector presents agriculture with unfair competition. In terms of sheer numbers, in the late 1990s surplus rural labour remains as dramatic a challenge to policy makers as it was two decades ago. Can the established routes out of agriculture serve hundreds of millions more Chinese rural dwellers, especially if the crucial goals of sustainable agriculture (and thus food security) are to be achieved? With declining per capita land ratios, and the continued assault on land quantity and quality caused by conversion to non-agricultural uses, the article argues that the state should fundamentally reevaluate the structure of agricultural prices in order that it be possible in the future to 'not leave the soil and not leave one's native place' (bulitu bulixiang). It would aid the protection of the rural environment and provide a less tortuous trajectory for China's historic urban transition. |
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