China Farmers Survey

Author: Chen Guidi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: This is not a book that "reports good news," nor is it one that glosses over the realities or flatters. Instead, it is a book that pushes the harsh truth directly to readers and the public, a book that candidly lays bare the full complexity, urgency, severity, and dangers of the "three rural issues" (agriculture, rural areas, and farmers). The author not only raises the problems but also works with experts and scholars in agriculture, as well as experienced officials who have long been involved in formulating and leading agricultural policies, to analyze the severity of these issues and their intricate relationships as thoroughly as possible. This is an invaluable work of reflection and warning that provides a glimpse into the current problems of Chinese farmers. The author spent three years traveling across rural Anhui, conducting in-depth investigations, and interviewing a group of insightful reform-minded individuals, experts, professors, and government officials dedicated to rural reform at all levels. The collected materials and discarded drafts are nearly as tall as the author. The work is based on extensive handwritten materials, reflecting the current living conditions of farmers, exposing several major agricultural-related cases that once shocked the central government, revealing the various reasons for the heavy burden on farmers, and depicting the arduous and winding process of rural tax and fee reforms. The text is narrated objectively and truthfully. Listening to the author's heart-wrenching account of the fate of farmers, we gain not only tears.