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China RESOURCES ENDOWMENT
Arable land in China is scarce; little more than 10 percent of
the total land area, most of it in the eastern third of the
country, can be cultivated. This compares with more than 20 percent
for the continental United States, which is slightly smaller than
China. Further agricultural expansion would be relatively difficult
because almost no land that could be profitably cultivated remains
unused and because, despite intensive cultivation, yields from some
marginal lands are low. Some possibility for expansion exists in
thinly populated parts of the country, especially in the northeast,
but the growing season there is short and the process of land
reclamation prolonged and costly.
China Proper (see Glossary)
is divided by the Qin Ling range
into highly dissimilar north and south agricultural areas
(see
fig. 8). In semitropical south China, rainfall is relatively abundant
and the growing season long. Rice is the predominant grain crop.
The paddies can generally be irrigated with water from rivers or
other sources. Although much of the soil is acid red clay, the
heavy use of fertilizer (at one time organic but by the mid-1980s
also including a large proportion of chemical nutrients) supports
high yields. Frequently two or even three crops a year are
cultivated on the same land. Food crops other than rice are also
grown, most frequently in hilly areas or during the winter. These
include potatoes and winter wheat. The highest grain yields in the
country in the mid-1980s were generally found in the Sichuan Basin,
the lower Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) Valley, and Guangdong and
Fujian provinces, where multiple cropping of rice and other crops
was the typical pattern. Cotton, tea, and industrial crops were
also produced there.
Wheat has traditionally been the main crop in north China, a
considerably drier region than south China. The winter wheat crop
accounts for nearly 90 percent of China's total production. Spring
wheat is grown mainly in the eastern portion of Nei Monggol
Autonomous Region (Inner Mongolia) and the northeastern provinces.
Other important grain crops include corn, sorghum, and millet.
These are usually dryland crops. Since the late 1960s, irrigation
has been greatly expanded, but water remains an important limiting
factor. Compared with the south, soils in the north are generally
better; however, because of the shorter growing season and colder,
drier climate, yields per cultivated hectare tend to be lower and
irrigation less extensive. Labor is not as abundant in the north as
in the south, but cropping patterns tend to require less labor, and
mechanization (especially of plowing) is more advanced.
The North China Plain, the most important growing area in north
China, extends across several provinces. Winter wheat and corn are
the leading grain crops; cotton is also grown, and Shandong
Province produces peanuts. The North China Plain, although fertile,
was traditionally subject to frequent floods and droughts, but
water conservation measures ameliorated the problem
(see Physical Environment
, ch. 2). Winter wheat is grown in the mountainous areas
west of this plain, but the climate is more severe and the danger
of natural disasters even greater. The fertile soils of the
northeastern plains have been used to plant corn, spring wheat, and
even rice. High-quality soybeans are grown in the northeast and are
exported to many Pacific rim countries. Although Nei Monggol
Autonomous Region produces some spring wheat and other grain, it is
best known as a pastoral area.
Much of China's vast and generally inhospitable northwest and
southwest regions is unsuitable for cultivation. Xinjiang-Uygur
Autonomous Region in the northwest, like Nei Monggol Autonomous
Region, is also best known as a pastoral area. In Xizang Autonomous
Region (Tibet) in the southwest, most of the cultivated area has
been irrigated, and special strains of wheat, rice, and barley
suitable for the climate of that high-altitude region have been
developed.
China's rural labor force in 1985 consisted of about 370
million people. The quality of the labor force had improved in the
previous three decades, primarily because of the introduction of
rural schools, which stressed elementary education
(see Primary Education
, ch. 4). Nevertheless, a large portion of the rural
population was illiterate or semiliterate in 1987, and very few
high school and college graduates lived in villages and towns. Lack
of education continued to retard the spread of advanced technology
in rural areas. The scarcity of cultivable land and the abundance
of manpower led to the development of labor-intensive production in
most parts of the country. And, although China's agriculture was
less labor intensive than that in some neighboring countries, it
was characterized by meticulous tending of the land and other
techniques employed in East Asia for centuries.
In the 1980s the rural labor force also was employed in rural
capital construction projects and small-scale industries. During
the winter months, large numbers of rural people worked on
construction and maintenance of irrigation or land-leveling
projects. Where rural industrial plants existed, they usually
employed a small proportion of the rural labor force, and many
peasants also engaged in sideline activities, such as handicrafts.
The government tightly limited migration from rural to urban areas
(see Migration
, ch. 2).
By the 1980s China had improved its agricultural resources, but
important obstacles remained. The country's agricultural capital
stock had been built up in large part by land modification. Through
the centuries fields were leveled and consolidated, and substantial
investments were made in building and modernizing irrigation
facilities. Since the 1950s the production of mechanical
agricultural equipment had been a major industry. But in the 1980s
many observers still noted a shortage of transportation facilities
to take crops to market and bring seed, fuel, and fertilizer to
users
(see Transportation
, ch. 8). In addition to capital, China
had available a supply of skilled labor and a stock of technical
information on seed varieties and fertilizer use despite the damage
done by the
Cultural Revolution
(1966-76; see Glossary).
Data as of July 1987
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