The Rise of the Middle Peasant Economy: Non-Capitalistic Agricultural Development and Its Mechanism - The Case of Wu Village, Anhui

The rise in China of a middle peasant economy, which differs from the pattern of development of capitalistic agriculture emphasized by mainstream theory, holds out the prospect of the development of small-scale agriculture in China. In some villages where foodgrain crops are the main products, the middle peasant economy with an appropriate scale of farmland, resulting from spontaneous and reciprocal land transfers among peasants, and relying on the use of family labor, can achieve the spontaneous transformation and development of the small peasant economy, expand agricultural employment, increase the income of peasants, and also improve the organizational ability of peasants. If carried out on a wide scale, this will fundamentally change the reality of China's agriculture as "involutionary" and lead to the development of agriculture and prosperity in rural society. The middle peasant economy demonstrates the potential for development within rural society with peasants as the main force, which will not only transform the countryside but also have a significant impact on the development of the national economy.