ABSTRACT
Tie Xi is a small village in the suburbs of the town of Mishan, two kilometres from its centre and in the county of the same name, in the south-east of China’s most north-easterly province, Heilongjiang, and but a few kilometres from its eastern border with Russia. Mishan itself is very inaccessible: to get there (if you can get hold of a ticket) involves a twelve hour train journey of maximum discomfort from Harbin, Heilongjiang’s provincial capital, which is itself an eighteen hour train journey from Beijing. Heilongjiang is an overwhelmingly agricultural province, with 80 per cent of its population engaged in agricultural occupations, including animal husbandry and forestry, with 70 per cent forest coverage, but it is also mineral-rich and has substantial coal, oil and mechanical engineering industries. Despite plentiful resources, however, its cadres argue that Heilongjiang is not a wealthy province because of the much higher levels of state intervention there than is common elsewhere in present-day China’s market orientated economy: there is considerable state ownership and regulation of industry and product prices are strictly controlled. It is claimed by the province officials that because of the greater availability of resources in Heilongjiang than in other provinces, the latters’ development depends on resources being transferred from Heilongjiang. Crops produced in Heilongjiang, for example, are bought by the state at low prices, keeping farmers badly off, and transported to other, often richer provinces.
