Rural-Urban Migration and Agro-Technological Change in Post-Reform China

How do rural Chinese households deal with the conflicting pressures of migrating into cities to work as well as staying at home to preserve their fields? This is particularly challenging for rice farmers, because paddy fields have to be cultivated continuously to retain their soil quality and value. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and written sources, Rural-Urban Migration and Agro-Technological Change in Post-Reform China describes farming households' strategic solutions to this predicament. It shows how, in light of rural-urban migration and agro-technological change, they manage to sustain both migration and farming. It innovatively conceives rural households as part of a larger farming community of practice that spans both staying and migrating household members and their material world. Focusing on one exemplary resource - paddy fields - it argues that socio-technical resources are key factors in understanding migration flows and migrant-home relations. Overall, this book provides rare insights into the rural side of migration and farmers' knowledge and agency.

Lena Kaufmann is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of History and an associate lecturer at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, both at the University of Zurich. Trained as an anthropologist and sinologist, she spent nearly four years in China, researching migration in the city and countryside.

Acknowledgements, INTRODUCTION, Arguments and aims of the book, Agriculture and migration, From 'migrant worlds' to 'community of practice' worlds,Knowledge, repertoire, and agency, Accessing the rural-urban community of practice, Structure of the book, References, 1. HOW THE PREDICAMENT AROSE, Modern agriculture in Anren County, De-collectivization and marketization, Abolition of the collective welfare system, The new urban economy and increased migration, References, 2. RICE KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS IN TRANSITION, Transformation of agricultural knowledge transmission,Transformation of the repertoire of knowledge,Agricultural deskilling and extended knowledge repertoires, References, 3. REFERENCE MODELS FOR TRANSMITTING KNOWLEDGE, Transmitting farming knowledge through proverbs, Educating the masses, Textualizing vernacular knowledge, Negotiating knowledge and farmer-state relationships, References, 4. TECHNOLOGICAL CHOICE IN THE WAKE OF MIGRATION, Tilling with power ploughs and oxen,Harvesting with sickles and combine harvesters, Choosing harvesting technologies,Technological choice from a repertoire perspective,References, 5. LAND-USE STRATEGIES, Sustaining intensive rice farming, De-intensifying rice farming, More than linear, more than technical, References, CONCLUSION: A SKILL PERSPECTIVE ON MIGRATION, Agency beyond resistance, Decision making beyond economic reasoning, Technology beyond linear progress, Migration beyond dichotomies, References, Appendix,I. Glossary, II. Solar terms, III. Song of the 24 Solar Terms, IV. Examples of proverbs and encoded knowledge, References, Index.