ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the variety of institutional arrangements which existed, and their interpretation as a reflection of the varied economic requirements of a peasant economy. Short-term labor involved larger numbers of both employers and employees, and consequently gave rise to more involved market institutions. Across China, some 37 percent of localities had formal market places for short term labor, to which prospective employers went to satisfy their needs. Provision of meals was not inconvenient, because of the small number of persons and days usually involved, and afforded the hirer some control over the length of rest periods. “Professional” short-term laborers were commonly migrant workers who, as in other countries, followed the crops. The significance of “other non-farm activities” is not to be minimized, for they were the bridge to wealth and social position, which were certainly not to be attained through farming.
