Exhausting the Earth : State and Peasant in Hunan, 1500-1850 / Peter C. Perdue.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Perdue, Peter C., author.

Contributor:

American Council of Learned Societies.

Series:

Harvard East Asian Monographs ; 130.

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 130

Harvard East Asian Monographs ; 130

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Agriculture and state--China--Hunan Sheng--History.

Agriculture and state.

Land use, Rural--China--Hunan Sheng--History.

Land use, Rural.

Agricultural productivity.

Hunan Sheng (China)--Population--History.

Hunan Sheng (China).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 331 p. ) maps ;

Distribution:

Leiden; Boston : BRILL, 1987.

Other Title:

State and Peasant in Hunan, 1500-1850

Place of Publication:

Boston : Harvard University Asia Center, 1987.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Recent agricultural reforms in the People's Republic of China have generated great interest in the ability of the Chinese state, traditional and modern, to accommodate rapid economic change. Exhausting the Earth examines an earlier period--from the late Ming to the mid-Qing era marked by tremendous population growth, extension of the market, and increases in agricultural productivity.Peter C. Perdue describes the relationship between agricultural production and state policies toward taxation, land clearance, dike-building; property rights, and agriculture in Hunan. During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Hunan changed from a peripheral, sparsely populated region into a crowded, highly commercialized, grain-exporting province. State policies had stimulated this growth, but by the early nineteenth century serious signs of overpopulation, social conflict, and ecological exhaustion had surfaced. Local officials were conscious of these dangers, but the influence of the state on the economy was so weakened that they could not alter the ominous trends. The stage was set for the disintegration and rebellion of the nineteenth century. This in-depth study of official policies in one region over a long stretch of time illuminates the dynamics of official initiatives and local response.

Contents:

ONE: Introduction

TWO: Geography and Population

THREE: The Resettlement of Hunan: State Policies and Land Clearance

FOUR: Immigration and Agricultural Productivity

FIVE: Property Rights and Social Relations on the Land

SIX: Waterworks Construction and Official Intervention

SEVEN: The Transformation of the Dongting Lake Economy

EIGHT: Conclusion

APPENDIX ONE: Administrative Subdivisions of Hunan in the Qing

APPENDIX TWO: Regulations for the Repair of the Wancheng Dike, Hubei, 1788

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliography (p. 293-314) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781684172689

1684172683

OCLC:

317459319

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9781684172689 DOI