Email: bh2022047@cau.edu.cn

Affiliation: College of Humanities and Development, China Agricultural University

Nationality: Chinese

The Agrarian-Based Social Reproduction in Rural China: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Abstract

When the Communist Party took power in 1949, China underwent a socialist system and targeted modernization as the ultimate goal for the entire nation. During the country's modernization development, productivism has been the dominant strategy leading to successful economic growth to a certain extent during different periods. During the processes, social reproduction has been critical to the country's materialized production and wealth. This is to say China's development achievements have been contingent upon the effective treatment of the relation between the two spheres, i.e., production and social reproduction.

In rural China, the fact of 'large country with smallholder peasants' defines its agrarian question with salient characteristics, which calls for a particular path of agrarian transition and. During this process, effective management of social reproduction has contributed greatly to rural development, and furthermore, to the country's modernization development.

This study holds that the social reproduction in rural China is fundamentally agrarian-based, aiming to examine its historical transformation of social reproduction in relation to agrarian questions since 1949. China's agrarian sector has experienced key changes in terms of land reform (1949-1953), collectivization (1953-1978), de-collectivization (1978-present) and the gradual land transfer (referring to transfer of 'land-use rights') since the mid-1980s. In response to these shifts, the mode of rural social reproduction has undergone transformation processes from initial liberalisation (when land was privatized before 1953) to state-led management (during collectivization), and then to a combination of liberalisation and state-led management (since HRS in 1978).

The defining characteristics of the mode of rural social reproduction in China include the following: (1) a reliance on agriculture and land-based livelihoods; (2) family-based reproduction institutions and practices;(3) government-provided social services and social security; and (4) population governance through family planning policy.

During these transformative processes, several challenges have emerged in relation to rural social reproduction: (1) intensified commodification and rural social atomization; (2) the erosion of communal solidarity and the weakened societal reproduction ('reproducing the social'); (3) the declining share of agriculture in household livelihoods, and the 'feminisation of agriculture' and 'ageing of agriculture' resulted from rural urban migration; (4) increased labour mobility and the phenomenon of left-behind populations; (5) rising land transfer and capital penetration into agriculture; (6) the 'education-up-moving' trend, characterized by rural schools, teachers and students relocating to urban areas as part of the state's restructuring of rural primary and secondary school networks; (7) rapid population ageing and low fertility rates; and (8) care transfer from rural to urban and care deficits in the rural.

To address these challenges, the Chinese government has implemented a series of responsive polices, including: (1) maintaining stable and long-term rural land contractual relations; (2) preventing urban citizens from purchasing rural land; (3) prioritizing development of agriculture and rural areas; (4) strengthening public service provision; (5) supporting smallholder agricultural development, and (6) organically integrating smallholders into modern agriculture with the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, so on and so forth.

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the patterns and transformation of rural social reproduction with Chinese particularities. In addition, it established a robust analytical connection between changes in social reproduction and agrarian transition. By doing so, this study makes a significant contribution to research on agrarian questions in China and advances the conceptualization of a Chinese path for agrarian transition.

Bio

Dr. Yuanyuan Duan is currently a postdoctoral researcher at College of Humanities and Development, China Agricultural University (2022–present). Her work focuses on critical issues in population studies, including low fertility, residential arrangements, as well as health and well-being. Two distinctive features characterize her work: Interdisciplinary Integration: Bridging demography with sociology, economics, statistics, and geography to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries; Methodological Integration: Combining quantitative analysis (e.g., demographic models) with qualitative approaches (e.g.,, fieldwork and participant observation) to leverage the strengths of both paradigms in research practice.

She holds a Ph.D. in Population, Resources, and Environmental Economics from Renmin University of China (2015–2022) and a Ph.D. in Demography from Macquarie University (2018–2021). Her academic foundation includes a Master's in Statistics from Henan University of Economics and Law (2009–2012) and a Bachelor's in Logistics Management (2005–2009).

Dr. Duan has published over 10 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals such as Population Research and Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, including recent work analysing low fertility intentions in rural China under the three-child policy. She has participated in multiple national and international research projects, spanning NSFC and NSSFC grants on topics such as rural labour mobility, fertility policy impacts, and aging societies.

Dr. Duan has received multiple awards, including the First Prizes in the Paper Category of the Seventh (2018) and the Eighth (2022) National Population Science Outstanding Achievement Awards, and Macquarie University's Vice-Chancellor's Commendation (2021). Her work integrates rigorous analysis with policy-oriented insights, and she has presented at major conferences such as the International Population Conference (2021) and Population Association of America Annual Meeting (2019).