ABSTRACT
State interventions and those of national and international capital groups are leading to the emergence of new farm types and ways of farming across China. The typical Chinese peasant farm after the introduction of the Household Responsibility System (HRS), the development of Township and Village Enterprises (TVE) and, especially, the beginning of the massive labour migration consists of, say, 5 mu of agricultural land. The search for new products and for new ways of organizing production and/or new ways to link to the markets are key aspects in this reinvention of farming. The strategy of the renewing farmers is grounded in a double denial. Chinese peasant houses and the margins of many fields are like our grandfathers' proverbial lumber sheds. The presence of the many lumber sheds contributes to the heterogeneity of Chinese agriculture and provides many resources for its incredible dynamism.
