Agricultural Census Communique No. 4

Communique on General Results of the Manual Tabulation

for the First National Agricultural Census

by the National Agricultural Census Office in China

No. 4

Rural Town Districts and Their Socio-Economic Conditions

The first National Agricultural Census conducted a complete enumeration on all the rural towns. By this census, the size of town districts and their socio-economic conditions of all rural towns in China have been obtained a clear idea. Now the manual tabulation results related with this part are published as follows:

1. Size of town districts

Since the reform and open-door policy were adopted, the rural small towns have been developed rapidly, with the decrease of the township number and increase of town number. The town districts showed a certain size as the rural urbanization was improved. According to the manual tabulation results, at the end of the year 1996, there were 16124 rural towns (excluding the towns where the town halls are located), and accounted for 37.4% of the total number of townships and towns; by each of the town districts, the average area covered was 2.42 square kilometers, the average total population was 4520, of which non-agricultural population was 2072; the proportion of non-agricultural to the total population was 45.8%.

From the point of view which divided the country into three parts, the development of rural small towns in the east part was faster than in the middle and west parts. According to the manual tabulation results, the number of towns in the east, middle and west parts of China were 7478, 4873 and 3773, and took 54.5%, 33.7% and 25.3% over the total number of townships and towns in these three parts respectively; in terms of the area covered, total population and the percentage of the non-agricultural population, it showed a decreasing trend accordingly (see table 1).

Table 1: Area covered and Population by Town Districts

2. Number and structure of enterprises in the town districts

The condition of the town districts was an important factor to define the socio-economic scale of the town districts. According to the manual tabulation results, at the end of 1996, on average there were 33.4 enterprises in each of the town districts, with 1246 persons engaged in each of the enterprises. The persons engaged in the enterprises over the total population in the town districts were 27.6% and over the non-agricultural population were over 60%. In view of the different parts of China, number of enterprises and persons engaged of the town districts in the east part were significantly higher than in the middle and west parts (see table 2).

Table 2: Number of enterprises and persons engaged in the town districts

In view of the economic types of enterprises, the state, collective and private enterprises played an crucial role in the economic development of rural small towns. According to the manual tabulation results, number of the state, collective and private enterprises over the total number of enterprises was 91.1%, their persons engaged over the total persons engaged in the enterprises were 88% (see table 3).

Table 3: Economic types of enterprises in the town districts

In view of the industrial structure of enterprises, industry and construction took a large proportion, which absorbed a big amount of labor force; transportation, wholesale, retail, trade and other tertiary industry were only a small percentage. According to the manual tabulation results, the enterprises engaged in industry and construction in the town districts were 49.2% of the total number of enterprises, persons engaged were 84.3% of the total persons engaged in all the enterprises (see table 4).

Table 4: Composition of industries of enterprises in the town districts

3. Number and structure of markets in the rural towns

Since the reform and open-door policy were adopted, the rural market and trade developed quite quickly with the development of commercial economy. According to the manual tabulation results, at the end of 1996, under the jurisdiction of rural towns, there were 30850 fairs and markets with fixed places, directly managed by towns, approved by the industrial and business departments, of which: general markets were 20917 and accounted for 67.8%, special markets 9933 and 32.2%; on average there were 1.91 fairs and markets in each of the towns, of which: general markets were 1.30, special markets 0.62.

In view of the different parts of China, total number and average of the fairs and markets, general markets and special markets in the east and middle parts were higher than in the west part (see table 5).

Table 5: Number and structure of fairs and markets in the rural towns in the east, middle and west Parts