ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concept, characteristics, and impacts of agricultural surplus labor transfer in China. While agricultural surplus labor is a product of rural reform, its surge has generated an active force toward the formulation of innovative development policies. The transfer of agricultural surplus labor has shifted its emphasis from passive containment to active engagement in promoting regional economic growth. The chapter explores the definitions of agricultural surplus labor and its brief history in China. It examines the main forces and approaches that influenced the formation and transfer of agricultural surplus labor in the 1980s. The chapter evaluates the status of agricultural surplus labor transfer in the 1990s, followed by a discussion of the forces and approaches affecting the transfer. Agricultural surplus labor is a part of the agricultural population, that is, the labor in excess of the employment provided by agriculture.
