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enhances our understanding of Chinese rural society. The Chapter on 'Landlords and Tenants' provides a fresh look at the complex social structure and pattern of power distribution in the villages. The Chapters on 'Inflation' and 'Rural Marketing' contain useful information and provide food for thought. One issue that is central to the study of peasant livelihood in South China is that of overseas remittances. This is mentioned in passing and should be given more attention. The important question is: what purposes did overseas remittances serve and did they increase the peasants' ability to maximize opportunities in trade? On the question of rural indebtedness, Faure refers to a 1930 study conducted by the Shanghai Social Affairs Bureau which revealed that ‘although a substantial proportion of the poor, in this case, the tenants, were in debt, they owed considerably less than the better-off, the owner-cultivators and half-owners', (p. 146). This is not surprising because the poor lacked collaterals and were therefore unable to contract substantial loans. I find it difficult to accept Faure's bold conclusion that ‘the extension of credit was a sign not of impoverishment but of growing opportunities', (p. 148). This statement is definitely too absolute and not sufficiently substantiated.
On the whole, it is obvious that a lot of research effort has been put into this work. While one should give Faure the credit for amassing a wealth of evidence in support of his case, it does not necessarily follow that one needs to subscribe to his views in an unreserved manner. As mentioned, the 'optimists' will welcome this piece of work for the fresh evidence it presents. The inadequacy of some of the arguments, on the other hand, will provide the 'pessimists' with a chance to fire back and reinforce their stand. All in all, this book will certainly serve to elevate the unending debate on China's rural economy to a higher level of intensity and refinement.
ALFRED H.Y. LIN
NOTES
E.H. Carr, What is History? (Pelican Books, Great Britain: Cox & Wyman Ltd., 1964), P. 23.
2 Chen Qihui, Guangdong tudi liyong yu liangshi zhanxiao (Land Use and the Production and Distribution of Food in Guangdong) in Xiao Zheng, Mingguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti zilliao (Source Materials on Land Problems in Mainland China in the 1930s) (Taibei, 1977), Vol. 50, pp. 25705-10, 25715-17. Guangdong jingji nianjian bianzhuan weiyuanhui, Guangdong jingji nianjian [Guangdong Economic Yearbook for 1940] (Guangzhou, 1941), 1:(K)42-49.
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