A Study on the Economic Structure of Rural China in the 1940s and 1950s: A Case Study of Northeast China

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20047
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0103:History, archaeology, museology, and related fields
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: KANNO Tomohiro 慶應義塾大学, 経済学部(日吉), 准教授 (60827814)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 満洲 / 中国東北地方 / 農村社会 / 土地改革 / 農業集団化 / 農村経済 / 労働力

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project examines the relationship between land reform, collectivization, and rural economies in Northeast China in the late 1940s by clarifying local society's (dis-)continuities, specifically, the CCP's penetration of the countryside. I focused on analyzing the local newspapers from Northeastern China, which were rarely explored in the past. The study reached the following rudimentary observations: considering the resource endowment of the region, investing in large-scale agricultural management that included improvement in means of production and labor, rather than conducting a radical land reform, was a more beneficial approach to stimulating the agricultural sector. The equalization of land rights resulting from the land reform was counterproductive. It could partly explain why the collectivization of the agricultural sector was introduced in Northeastern China at the end of the 1940s.

Free Research Field

中国近現代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現代中国においては、三農問題や出稼ぎ労働者問題、格差問題など農村をめぐる様々な問題が深刻化し、日本のメディアでもしばしば取り上げられている。これらの社会問題や現代中国農村のダイナミズムを理解するためには、より長い時系列の中で農村社会の変化や問題の歴史的背景を解明する必要がある。本研究は、中国東北地域社会の歴史的変化ばかりでなく、現代中国農村や中国社会を考えるための重要な手がかりにもなりうる。そして、これはまた日本が等身大の中国社会の姿を理解することにもつながると考える。