37. The organizer of this session was Mr. Zhu Xiangdong, Director-General, Rural Sample Survey Organization, NBS; and the discussant was Mr. L. Biggeri, Senior Project Advisor for Projects GCP/CPR/020/ITA and GCP/CPR/025/ITA.

 

38. Three papers were presented:

(i)“Research on the Current Situation of Rural Regional Economy in China” (Yi Danhui);

(ii)“The New Geography of Chinese Agriculture” (R. Fanfani);

(iii)“Basic Situation and Developing Characteristics of Agricultural Household and Non-household Agricultural Holdings in China” (Xia Ying and Niu Ruofeng).

 

39. The increasing divergence between different regions is an important issue in the Chinese economic structure. The papers in this session presented the main features of this divergence between the different regions in PRC (rural areas, agricultural and farm households), using the results from the first Census of Agriculture in PRC. The economic reasons for these divergences, the impacts on future economic development, and counter-measures were also discussed, along with the way agricultural households are managed and organized. The main points made by the presenters of the three papers are summarized below.

 

40. According to the statistical analysis based on results from the census, the presenters raised the concept of four big rural economic regions, and presented the standards for division of rural regions and the supporting data. All these new standards for such a new division were quite different from the present division of administration in PRC and were categorized as economic divisions.

 

41. The differences among rural regional economies were correlated with natural resources, human resources, production factors and industrial composition. Therefore, the analysis highlighted the dependence among the economic activities and social development, as well as natural environment.

 

42. Some important conclusions were presented based on these studies; e.g., (i) the more well-developed the economy in the region, the lower the educational levels the agricultural labor force attained, etc. (ii) it is impossible to change the small-size operation of households within a short period, and (iii) the government needs to promote the transition of part-time agricultural households to non-agricultural activities, etc.

 

43. The above contributions provided some clues for decision-making on rural economic development in PRC for different zones, and they were the subject of much discussion. Various questions arose on the methods and the results of the classification of the agricultural economic zones, and to clarify the computations made using the data at the county level. Another question was on the characteristics of the economic activity of the households, especially now that the multi-sectoral activity is the reality of the rural households. Finally, it was explained that the level of education of the agricultural labor force is lower in the main developed zones because in the agricultural sector of these zones essentially women and older people are working.