Description: This study traces the origins of the agrarian crisis in southernmost China in the 1920s and 1930s. The author has singled out six key aspects of the rural economy for investigation: the man-land ratio, land tax, rent and credit operation. What emerges from his findings is the picture of a traditional economy that had come under the pressure of internal and external dynamics of change since the nineteenth century. This study shows the deep-rooted and multifaced nature of the agrarian crisis, and highlights the importance of technological and institutional remedies to Chinas rural problems. The author also draws attention to the inexpediency of dismissing a different point of view simply for the sake of argumentation. He calls for greater appreciation of the worth of alternative perspectives, as this is vital to the understanding of a complex historical reality rife with contradictions.

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