Development of Agriculture in Chinese Peripheral Rural Regions

Abstract

Introduction. China has passed a long process on its way to the global leadership in industrial sector and services. Accompanied by rapid growth of the regional prosperity is though not equal among the territory of the country. There are several relative peripheral regions with lower population and agricultural predominance. To maintain territorial cohesion a number of top-down measures and bottom-up initiatives are required. Purpose. The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the territorial dimensions of maintaining a steady growth of China’s agricultural sector under the condition of the general population increasing and decreasing the share of rural population. Methods. The current research was carried out with application of the following methods: analysis and synthesis – to systemize the conceptual mainstream in the field of peripheral development; comparative analysis – to compare the development aspects in different regions of China depending from their urban/rural structure; deductions and inductions – to elaborate the key issues of agriculture development in Chinese peripheral rural regions; tabular and visual methods – for illustration of the research materials. Results. The paper overviews the dynamics of the Chinese population during the last 70 years. The urban-rural structure of the population is analysed in a spatial-temporal perspective. Traditional rural regions in China are determined. General overview of agriculture development in China has been done. From the regional perspective, the development reasons and conditions of the nine relatively typical agricultural areas in China are analysed. The trends of agriculture development in Chinese peripheral rural regions are considered. Discussion. Despite the great success of China in the fields of agricultural development and poverty reduction in depressed regions, there are aspects that require additional care: a broad area of issues concerning territorial cohesion, sustainable development, public- private cooperation.