ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 examines the transformation of land relations from the socialist era (1949–76) to the early reform period (1980s) and the efforts to increase the surplus-generating capacity of land in the two county cases: Wujin and Aohan. The economic trajectories of the two counties proceeded on very different paths, with Wujin emerging as a major rural industrial county, and Aohan regaining ecological balance and increasing agricultural productivity. Neither path was a smooth transition as they were full of serious challenges and painful setbacks. The road to the second industrious revolution was long and rocky, even more so if taking into account the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. Economically, Wujin was much more successful than Aohan, but the change in the latter was no less significant, as peripheral regions such as Aohan were crucial to supporting the livelihoods of a growing population as well as striking a delicate balance between the environment and intensive farming.
