Paradoxes of Post-Mao Rural Reform: Initial Steps Toward a New Chinese Countryside, 1976-1981

The decollectivization of Chinese agriculture in the early post-Mao period is widely recognized as a critical part of the overall reform program. But the political process leading to this outcome is poorly understood. A number of approaches have dominated the existing literature, but this study provides a new interpretation challenging conventio

Frederick C. Teiwes is Emeritus Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Warren Sun is Reader in the Chinese Studies Program at Monash University, Australia.