The Asian Village As A Basis For Rural Modernization

An investigation of the potential for rural progress of the Asian village, especially in monsoonal and equatorial areas. Contents include distinctions and relations between rural and urban, origin and evolution of ecosystems involving rural man, location and morphology of villages, social and agrarian patterns, the sociology of labour, land use, rural water use, nutrition, health, child-rearing and rural evolution at present. With 20 diagrams.

Impact of institutional frameworks and social change on agricultural production and income distribution in Asian villages, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines - analyses effects of modernization on rural communitys, evolution of land tenure and labour contract institutions, peasantry, social stratification of the peasantry; discusses technological change in relation to agrarian structure, rice harvesting, etc.; forecasts agricultural development prospects. Bibliography, graphs, maps, photographs, statistical tables.

The story of one village, Yantian, and its remarkable economic and social transformation, this book shows how outcomes are shaped by a number of factors such as path dependence, social structures, economic resources and local entrepreneurship.

Mobilizing for Development tackles the question of how countries achieve rural development and offers a new way of thinking about East Asia's political economy that challenges the developmental state paradigm. Through a comparison of Taiwan (1950s–1970s), South Korea (1950s–1970s), and China (1980s–2000s), Kristen E. Looney shows that different types of development outcomes—improvements in agricultural production, rural living standards, and the village environment—were realized to different degrees, at different times, and in different ways. She argues that rural modernization campaigns, defined as policies demanding high levels of mobilization to effect dramatic change, played a central role in the region and that divergent development outcomes can be attributed to the interplay between campaigns and institutions. The analysis departs from common portrayals of the developmental state as wholly technocratic and demonstrates that rural development was not just a byproduct of industrialization. Looney's research is based on several years of fieldwork in Asia and makes a unique contribution by systematically comparing China's development experience with other countries. Relevant to political science, economic history, rural sociology, and Asian Studies, the book enriches our understanding of state-led development and agrarian change.

Using examples from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the book considers what scholarship has defined as a village within the rapid changes taking place in rural Southeast Asia.

This study looks at the social and economic status, family and workforce roles, and quality of life of women in the rural sectors of monsoonal and equatorial Asia, from Pakistan to Japan, where life often is characterized by unemployment, underemployment, and poverty.

Highlighting the interwoven relationship between Chinese rural society and larger historical forces, this book charts the evolution of China’s rural society from 1901 to 1949, concentrating on the major changes of this period and the scenarios developed to modernize rural society during the half century leading up to the Revolution. The modern history of rural China is one of sweeping institutional and structural transformation across many dimensions. As the first half of the twentieth century unfolded, against a backdrop of turbulent changes across a country that underwent industrialization, urbanization and modernization, China’s agriculture, rural population and rural communities encountered many crises, but also showed remarkable resilience and capacity for adaptation and reform. In each of the six chapters, the author delves into one aspect or examines one period of this massive transformation, and identifies the social, economic, political and cultural signifi cance of these tumultuous processes at work. The book will appeal to both scholars and general readers interested in modern Chinese history and the transformation of rural China.