“Emphasis On Sideline Production Without The Expense Of Agriculture”:A Study On Sideline Production In Daobei Village In Central Shanxi During The Collectivization Period

The significant politicization and revolutionization in the era of collectivization,as well as the proposition and emphasis of slogans such as“agriculture-prioritized” and “grain-oriented” have caused a misunderstanding of the sideline industry in China’s rural society,which features an ignorance of the importance of sideline business in rural economic and social development during the collectivization period.During that period,ownership,management distribution rights of agricultural production were strictly controlled by the state.Comparatively,the villages could enjoy more autonomous control.The sideline production income was relatively abundant,and could be directly and promptly secured.So the grass-roots villages were more inclined to develop sideline production.The survival logic and rationality of “reliance on the collective to eat,while dependence on ourselves to make money” also tempeted the villagers to get rid of the collective restrictions and to use non-agricultural means to obtain cash and other resources for survival,thereby constituting a certain impact on their village’s logic of agricultural production and revolution.During the collectivization period,the production structure of Daobei Village showed a remarkable characteristic of “emphasis on sideline production without neglect of agriculture”.On the one hand,Daobei Village has a strong business atmosphere and is close to the county town.On the other hand,Daobei Village has convenient irrigation conditions,but widespread land salinization had led to limited agricultural output and it was difficult to maintain a livelihood merely on agricultural production.This reality had dictated the characteristics of the production structure of Daobei Village in the traditional period,which was put as “emphasizing commerce without underestimating agriculture”.In the collectivization period,to replace commerce with sideline production became an important means for Daobei Village to balance and make up for the lack of agricultural output.That’s why Daobei Village has formed the characteristic of “emphasis on sideline production without neglect of agriculture” in its production structure.In the period of collectivization,the state’s strong intervention and comprehensive political coverage enabled it to construct and dominate its villages’ political and economic operation mechanism.The state strived to shape its villages into “cellularized” basic-level units that featured routinization of revolution and politicization of everyday life.However,in the face of the state’s strong external forces,the grassroots society maintained its active autonomy and adaptability.The construction and modelling of the state did not build Daobei Village into a completely“cellularized” basic-level rural village,nor did it block Daobei Village’s tradition of “emphasizing commerce without underestimating agriculture”.Instead,in the interaction and tension between the state and the village,the production structure of Daobei Village got formed during the collectivization period,which emphasized sideline production but not at the expense of agriculture.Although the construction and transformation of the state in that period did not manage to replace Daobei Village’s production structure of “emphasis on sideline production without neglect of agriculture”with a single agriculture,it significantly affected and partially transformed the economic and social development process in Daobei Village and its villagers’ livelihood choices.The agricultural production in Daobei Village had long faced serious threats of land salinization.During the collectivization period,the villagers were “chained” to rural and agricultural labor.Its population growth and the breakdown of the export-oriented population flow created by its business tradition aggravated the “involution” phenomenon in Daobei Village,which stuck Daobei Village in the dilemma of “growth without development”.When reliance on a single agricultural production could not break through the development dilemma,the development strategy of “emphasis on sideline production without neglect of agriculture”,that is,vigorous development of sideline production to make up for the inadequacy of agriculture,became a “collusion” and consensus among Daobei cadres and villagers,and also the best choice apart from agriculture.Therefore,Daobei villagers,including its cadres,chose that development strategy under the somewhat ambiguous premise of “no harm to agriculture” and “no hindrance to the collective economy”,and strived to expand their survival scope by actively developing sideline production.In the period of collectivization,Daobei villagers invested a lot of energy in sideline production,giving full play to their ingenuity and doing everything possible to participate in a variety of collective sideline activities.This research will focus on this micro-case of Daobei Village in central Shanxi,make full use of the basic information of Daobei Village,combined with the field interview survey data centering on the “Daobei Plan”,covering the following aspects: 1.rural industry,2.grain processing industry,3.transportation and mechanical farming,4.pig husbandry and specialized sideline team,5.household sideline production,and 6.sideline production and village politics.This dissertation sorts out the stories of participants in sideline production under that specific historical context and then discusses the sideline production in Daobei Village during that collectivization period.From the perspective of rural sideline production,the author strives to present the ups and downs of Daobei Village which was “emphasis on sideline production without neglect of agriculture” in that period.This dissertation provides empirical facts in microcosm for the study of sideline production in the Chinese countryside during the collectivization period,which helps the understanding of the spectacular display of rural development during the collectivization period.The rural sideline business that has continued ever since the collectivization period has made significant contributions to the development of China’s rural economy after its reform and opening up.This investigation and exploration will help understand the“previous life” of the present rural economy.In addition,as the rural sideline business during the collectivization period has made significant contributions to the accommodation and transference of the surplus labor force in the rural area,an inspection of the rural sideline business during the collectivization period can also provide some empirical facts and references for the insightful countermeasures to tackle the “Three Rural Issues” in China.