Abstract
China has promulgated a series of policies including the Western Development Program, the Grain for Green Project, agricultural support policies and building a new countryside strategy to eliminate east-west differences and urban-rural disparities since the late 1990s. This paper gives a holistic examination on local responses to the four typical macro socio-economic development policies and their effects on rural system based on a case study of a mountainous village in southern Sichuan Province. The results showed that the policies have not moved the case study village from its historically marginal status. To some extent, its socio-economic situation might have been worsened by accelerated out-migration of the youth, loss of agricultural land due to afforestation and industrial plants, increased fire hazard due to afforestation and reforestation, increased environmental pollution due to industrial enterprises attracted to the village and a steep decline in agricultural production due to loss of and inefficient use of cultivated land. Factors causing local villages’ dilemmas include the nonuniformity of actors’ objectives, finiteness of villagers’ abilities, and the imperfect incentive and restraint mechanism for local government’s activities under existing policy framework composed of uncoordinated one-size-fits-all policies. We suggest that China’s rural policy in the new period should gradually shift from a sectoral to a place-based one, from top-down incentives to the development of bottom-up projects, and fully recognize the diversity of rural space, so as to lift local capacities and make good use of the knowledge shared by different actors. Moreover, it is also necessary to integrate the various sectoral policies, and improve the interministerial and interdepartmental coordination of rural policies at regional and local levels.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Baslé M (2006) Strengths and weaknesses of European Union policy evaluation methods: ex-post evaluation of Objective 2, 1994-99. Regional Studies 40(2):225–235. DOI: 10.1080/ 00343400600600595
Binns T, Nel E (2003) The village in a game park: local response to the demise of coal mining in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Economic Geography 79(1): 41–66. DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00201.x
Bridger JC, Theodore RA (2008) An interactional approach to place-based rural development. Community Development 39(1): 99–111. DOI:10.1080/15575330809489744
Cai F (2011) Hukou system reform and unification of rural-urban social welfare. China & World Economy 19(3): 33–48. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-124X.2011.01241.x
Cao SX, Xu HG, Chen L, Wang XQ (2009) Attitudes of farmers in China’s northern Shaanxi Province towards the land-use changes required under the Grain for Green Project, and implications for the project’s success. Land Use Policy 26(4): 1182–1194. DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.02.006
Chen GJ (2006) The trend and main task of study on the development of mountain areas in China. Journal of Mountain Science 24(5): 531–538. (In Chinese)
Chen MJ, Zheng YN (2008) China’s regional disparity and its policy responses. China & World Economy 16(4): 16–32. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-124X.2008.00119.x
Courtney P, Hill G, Roberts D (2006) The role of natural heritage in rural development: an analysis of economic linkages in Scotland. Journal of Rural Studies 22(4): 469–484. DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2006.02.003
DPES-NBSC (Department of Population and Employment Statistics — National Bureau of Statistics of China) (2009) China Population and Employment Statistics Yearbook. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
Goodman DSG (2004) The campaign to “Open up the West”: national, provincial-level and local perspectives. The China Quarterly 178: 317–334. DOI:10.1017/S0305741004000190
Grosjean P, Kontoleon A (2009) How sustainable are sustainable development programs? The case of the Sloping Land Conversion Program in China. World Development 37(1): 268–285. DOI:10.1016/j.worlddev.2008.05.003
Gui L (2008) Problems and countermeasures of grass-root finance after the abolition of agricultural tax in Western China. Rural Economy 8: 62–65. (In Chinese)
Huang JK, Wang XB, Zhi HY, et al. (2011) Subsidies and distortions in China’s agriculture: evidence from producerlevel data. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 55(1): 53–71. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8489.2010.00527.x
Jiang YS (2007) Main content and priority of building a new countryside in west china: an analysis based on questionnaires and group interviews of 387 village party secretary of Sichuan Province. Chinese Rural Economy 1: 20–27. (In Chinese)
Kennedy JJ (2007) From the tax-for-tee reform to the abolition of agricultural taxes: the impact on township governments in north-west China. The China Quarterly 189: 43–59. DOI: 10.1017/S0305741006000798
Kwieciński A, van Tongeren F (2007) Quantitative evaluation of a decade of agricultural policies in China: 1995–2005, Contributed Paper, International Agriculture Trade Research Consortium Symposium, Beijing.
Lakshmanan TR (1982) A systems model of rural development. World Development 10(10): 885–898. DOI: 10.1016/0305-750X(82)90063-8
Leeuwis C (2000) Reconceptualizing participation for sustainable rural development: Towards a negotiation approach. Development and Change 31(5): 931–959. DOI: 10.1111/1467-7660.00184
Li XJ, Qiao JJ (2001) County level economic disparities of China in the 1990s. Acta Ceographica Sinica 56(2): 136–145. (In Chinese)
Li YR, Long HL, Liu YS (2010) Industrial development and land use/cover change and their effects on local environment: a case study in Changshu in eastern coastal China. Frontiers of Environmental Science and Engineering in China 4(4): 438–448. DOI: 10.1007/s11783-010-0273-3
Li YR, Wei DYH (2010) The spatial-temporal hierarchy of regional inequality of China. Applied Geography 30(3): 303–316. DOI:10.1016/j.apgeog.2009.11.001
Lin JH, Ren BP (2009) Evaluation of Western Development Program: 1999-2008. Research on Development 1: 48–52. (In Chinese)
Liu JG, Li SX, Ouyang ZY, et al. (2008) Ecological and socioeconomic effects of China’s policies for ecosystem services. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United State of America 105(28): 9477–9482. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0706436105
Liu YS (2007) Rural transformation development and new countryside construction in eastern coastal area of China. Acta Ceographica Sinica 62(6): 563–570. (In Chinese)
Liu YS, Chen YF, Long HL (2011) Regional diversity of peasant household response to new countryside construction based on field survey in eastern coastal China. Journal of Geographical Sciences 21(5): 869–881. DOI: 10.1007/s11442-011-0886-x
Liu YS, Liu Y, Chen YF, Long HL (2010) The process and driving forces of rural hollowing in China under rapid urbanization. Journal of Geographical Sciences 20(6): 876–888. DOI: 10.1007/s11442-010-0817-2
Long HL, Li YR, Liu YS, et al. (2012) Accelerated restructuring in rural China fueled by “increasing vs. decreasing balance” land-use policy for dealing with hollowed villages. Land Use Policy 29(1): 11–22. DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.04.003
Long HL, Liu YS, Li XB, Chen YF (2010) Building new countryside in China: a geographical perspective. Land Use Policy 27(2): 457–470. DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.06.006
Long HL, Woods M (2011) Rural restructuring under globalization in eastern coastal China: What can be learned from Wales? Journal of Rural and Community Development 6(1): 70–94.
Long HL, Zou J, Pykett J, Li YR (2011) Analysis of rural transformation development in China since the turn of the new millennium. Applied Geography 31(3): 1094–1105. DOI:10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.02.006
Marsden T (2010) Mobilizing the regional eco-economy: evolving webs of agri-food and rural development in the UK. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3(2): 225–244. DOI:10.1093/cjres/rsq010
McNally CA (2004) Sichuan: Driving capitalist development westward. The China Quarterly 178: 426–447. DOI: 10.1017/S0305741004000244
Midmore P, Langstaff L, Lowman S, Vaughan A (2008) Qualitative evaluation of European rural development policy: Evidence from comparative case studies. 12th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economics — EAAE 2008, Ghent, Belgium.
Midmore P, Partridge MD, Olfert MR, Ali K (2010) The evaluation of rural development policy: macro and micro perspectives. EuroChoices 9(1): 24–28. DOI: 10.1111/j.1746-692X.2010.00155.x
Murdoch J (2000) Networks: a new paradigm of rural development? Journal of Rural Studies 16(4): 407–419. DOI: 10.1016/S0743-0167(00)00022-X NDRC
(National Development and Reform Commission) (2005, 2009) China Agricultural Products Cost-benefit Compilation of Information. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
Nel E, Binns T, Bek D (2007) ‘Alternative foods’ and community-based development: Rooibos tea production in South Africa’s West Coast Mountains. Applied Geography 27(2): 112–129. DOI:10.1016/j.apgeog.2006.11.001
OECD (2003) The future of rural policy: from sectoral to placebased policies in rural areas. OECD.
OECD (2005) Place-based policies for rural development: provinces of Arezzo and Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy. OECD.
Oi JC (1995) The role of the local state in China’s transitional economy. The China Quarterly 144: 1132–1150. DOI: 10.1017/S0305741000004768
Olfert MR, Partridge MD (2010) Best practices in twenty-firstcentury rural development and policy. Growth and Change 41(2): 147–164. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2257.2010.00523.x
Partridge MD, Rickman DS (2006) The Geography of American Poverty: Is There a Need for Place-Based Policies?. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Pezzini M (2001) Rural policy lessons from OECD countries. International Regional Science Review 24(1): 134–145. DOI: 10.1177/016001701761013024
Phuthego TC, Chanda R (2004) Traditional ecological knowledge and community-based natural resource management: lessons from a Botswana wildlife management area. Applied Geography 24(1): 57–76. DOI:10.1016/j.apgeog.2003.10.001
Psaltopoulos D, Thomson KJ, Efstratoglou S, Kola J, Daouli A (2004) Regional social accounting matrices for structural policy analysis in lagging EU. European Review of Agricultural Economics 31(2): 149–178. DOI: 10.1093/erae/ 31.2.149
Ravallion M, Wodon QT (1999) Poor areas, or only poor people? Journal of Regional Science 39(4): 689–711. DOI: 10.1111/0022-4146.00156
Ryser L, Halseth G (2010) Rural economic development: A review of the literature from industrialized economies. Geography Compass 4(6): 510–531. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2010.00321.x
Tao R, Xu ZG (2007) Urbanization, rural land system and social security for migrants in China. Journal of Development Studies 43(7): 1301–1320. DOI:10.1080/00220380701526659
Terluin IJ, Roza P (2010) Evaluation methods for rural development policy. Report 2010-037. April 2010. LEI, part of Wageningen UR. The Hague.
Terluin IJ (2003) Differences in economic development in rural regions of advanced countries: an overview and critical analysis of theories. Journal of Rural Studies 19(3): 327–344. DOI: 10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00071-2
Tian SQ, Huang YH (2010) Evaluation of Western Development Program: a urban-rural income gap perspective. Inquiry into Economic Issues 9: 20–25. (In Chinese)
Trac CJ, Harrell S, Hinckley TM, Henck AC (2007) Reforestation programs in southwest China: reported success, observed failure, and the reasons why. Journal of Mountain Science 4(4): 275–292. DOI: 10.1007/s11629-007-0275-1
Uchida E, Xu JT, Rozelle S (2005) Grain for Green: costeffectiveness and sustainability of China’s Conservation Set- Aside Program. Land Economics 81(2): 247–264. DOI: 10.3368/le.81.2.247
Wang LL, Wei HK (2004) Progress of western China development drive, and evaluation of the results. China & World Economy 12(2): 20–33.
Wang SN, Yao Y (2007) Grassroots democracy and local governance: evidence from rural China. World Development 35(10): 1635–1649. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2006.10.014
Wei YHD, Ye X (2009) Beyond convergence: space, scale, and regional inequality in China. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 100(1): 59–80. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9663.2009.00507.x
Woods M (2005) Rural Geography: Processes, Responses and Experiences in Rural Restructuring. London: Sage.
Xing ZL (2008) The rent-seeking in the implementation of Grain for Green Project: a case study in Neijiang city of Sichuan Province. China Rural Survey 3: 29–37. (In Chinese)
Xu JY, Chen LD, Lu YH, Fu BJ (2007) Sustainability evaluation of the Grain for Green Project: From local people’s responses to ecological effectiveness in Wolong Nature Reserve. Environmental Management 40: 113–122. DOI: 10.1007/s00267-006-0113-1
Xu W, Tan KC (2002) Impact of reform and economic restructuring on rural systems in China: a case study of Yuhang, Zhejiang. Journal of Rural Studies 18(1): 65–81. DOI: 10.1016/S0743-0167(01)00030-4
Yang DT, Li YF (2008) Agricultural price reforms in China: experience from the past three decades. Agroalimentaria, 27: 13–23.
Yang DYR, Wang HK (2008) Dilemmas of local governance under the development zone fever in China: a case study of the Suzhou region. Urban Studies 45(5–6): 1037–1054. (DOI: 10.1177/0042098008089852)
Yao HQ, Ren ZZ (2009) Blue Book of Western Region of China: Annual Report on Economic Development in Western Region of China. Beijing: Social Sciences Literature Publishing House. (In Chinese)
Ye JZ (2005) Construction of the New Countryside: Farmers’ Perspectives. Beijing: Social Sciences Literature Publishing House. (In Chinese)
Yeung YM, Shen JF (2004) Developing China’s West: A Critical Path to Balanced National Development. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.
Yin RK (1994) Case Study Research. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Ying LG (2003) Understanding China’s recent growth experience: a spatial econometric perspective. Annals of Regional Science 37(4): 613–628. DOI: 10.1007/s00168-003-0129-x
Yu WS, Hans GJ (2010) China’s agricultural policy transition: impacts of recent reforms and future scenarios. Journal of Agricultural Economics 61(2): 343–368. DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-9552.2010.00242.x
Zhou FZ (2006) A decade of tax-sharing: the system and its evolution. Social Sciences in China 6: 100–115. (In Chinese)
Zhou LB, Liu KB (2008) Community tourism as practiced in the mountainous Qiang region of Sichuan Province, China: a case study in Zhenghe Village. Journal of Mountain Science 5(2): 140–156. DOI: 10.1007/s11629-008-0098-8
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
About this article
Cite this article
Li, Yr., Liu, Ys., Long, Hl. et al. Local responses to macro development policies and their effects on rural system in China’s mountainous regions: the case of Shuanghe Village in Sichuan Province. J. Mt. Sci. 10, 588–608 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2544-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2544-5