ABSTRACT
The collective property is a legal category separate from state-owned property, and most Chinese peasant families belong either to a rural cooperative or to a state farm. In China, as in other socialist nations, household private plots have historically contributed a disproportionate share of farm output. During the 1950s, China tried to pursue forced industrialization according to the formula pioneered by Stalin in the Soviet Union. Development of small-scale enterprise is scarcely a new phenomenon in China. Household subsidiary activities—in the form of artisan work, handicrafts, repair, and the like—have existed for centuries in Chinese villages. In China, most of the labor force still works in agriculture and directly related occupations, such as water control. China's overburdened transport facilities greatly raise the costs of all kinds of construction materials and intermediate goods, whenever they have to be carried very far.
