ABSTRACT

One of the locational advantages enjoyed by the rural communes in the coastal provinces of China is the proximity to large urban markets and to export facilities provided by the transportation centers. The changing rural landscape is exemplified by the following account of the evolution of agricultural production in Gaohe, a county southwest of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. The agricultural economy of the entire central Guangdong subregion shares the characteristics of its type area, the delta, to varying extents. Changes in the agricultural scene came with the Communist regime. The rich supply of agricultural products, however, had given rise to some processing industries such as silk reeling, spinning, food preserving, distilling, tobacco curing, and mats weaving. A negative effect must have been felt also from Gaohe's proximity to several urban centers that could provide much better support services to industry and greater accessibility to markets.