ABSTRACT
A wide array of criticisms has been levelled at China's rural reforms of the 1980s. This chapter examines a number of the most important criticisms that have been made. Unlike many developing countries where agriculture has to keep pace with rapid population growth, the fact that China's population growth by the mid-1980s had fallen to less than 1.5 per cent per annum greatly reduced the pressure on agriculture. China's huge size makes it unlikely that imports will play a major role in meeting domestic demand for agricultural products. The structure of China's rural economy altered fast in the 1980s. Only a few commentators outside China have been concerned with the implications of China's rural reform package for intra-village class relations, yet this is a central criterion by which to judge rural developments. The chapter concludes that many of the problems have been exaggerated but that some important difficulties do exist.
