ABSTRACT
The peasants of Germany in 1525 effected a revolt in one of the first societies to begin the modern process of development. This chapter describes the beginnings of development in a 20th-century Asian context. In some Asian countries the rapid change from a subsistence to a developing exchange economy has been made with great and savage violence, such as China and Indonesia. The chapter presents an article by a Dutch scholar who writes mainly from his experience in Indonesia, telling about some basic aspects of development and thereby suggesting why it went through such a violent stage, more than seventeen years after he wrote. The chapter presents the oriental village mainly as a source of labor for the benefit of urban industry. Subsequently, it takes into account also of its function as a source of agricultural produce by choosing an example from China.
