China is perhaps the most prominent example of a developing country that has transitioned from taxing to supporting agriculture. In recent years, Chinese price supports and subsidies have risen at an accelerating pace after they were linked to rising production costs. Per-acre subsidy payments to grain producers now equal 7 to 15 percent of those producers' gross income, but grain payments appear to have little influence on production decisions. Chinese authorities began raising price supports annually to bolster incentives, and Chinese prices for major farm commodities are rising above world prices, helping to attract a surge of agricultural imports. U.S. agricultural exports to China tripled in value during the period when China's agricultural support was accelerating. Overall, China's expansion of support is loosely constrained by World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, but the country's price-support programs could exceed WTO limits in coming years. Chinese officials promise to continue increasing domestic policy support for agriculture, but the mix of policies may evolve as the Chinese agricultural sector becomes more commercialized and faces competitive pressures.

Originally published in 1985, this study investigates the actual experience in mechanization during the Fourth Five Year Plan period, a period which represented, in many ways, a new stage in China’s rural development. It examines the historical perspective and the development approach under which mechanization efforts were exerted during this 5-year period and the mechanism, outcomes and problems these entailed. The book addresses the issues involved in agricultural development and mechanization through a more integral analysis of the way technological transformation has been linked to China’s quest for social and economic development.

China and India are the most extraordinary economic success stories of the developing world. Both nations’ economies have grown dramatically over the past few decades, elevating them from two of the world’s poorest countries into projected economic superpowers. As a result, the numbers of Chinese and Indians living in poverty have rapidly fallen and per capita incomes in China and India have quadrupled and doubled, respectively. This book investigates the reasons for these staggering accomplishments and the lessons that can be applied both to other developing nations and to the problem of poverty that remains in these two countries. The contributors pay particular attention to agriculture and the rural economy, examining how initial conditions and investments and the prioritization and sequencing of different policies and strategies have led to successes, and how the agricultural and rural sectors connect to overall economic expansion. They also emphasize the importance of anti-poverty programs and safety nets in helping poor people escape poverty. The book offers a set of policy and strategic options for future growth and poverty reduction. These include setting the right priorities for public spending, identifying trade and market reforms, building social safety nets for the poorest of the poor, and building accountable institutions that can provide public goods and services effectively. The book concludes by examining future challenges to China and India’s economic development, such as the need to ensure growth that is sustainable, equitable, and environmentally friendly. The Dragon and the Elephant offers valuable insights to development specialists anxious to multiply the benefits experienced by two of the greatest economic successes in recent times.

The book presents findings of anthropological studies conducted by researchers from Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center in a number of African countries, including Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Mozambique. The aim of these ethnological studies is to understand the Center’s experience in these countries as well as the way it works in terms of institutional arrangement, interaction between Chinese and local staff and technology transfer. A basic contention of the book is that insofar as these Centers showcase China’s achievements in domestic development for purpose of sharing the country’s experiences with host countries, what they do essentially points toward a new and innovative approach to foreign aid.

This examination of policy developments in the People's Republic of China since the Cultural Revolution addresses two central questions: (1) how durable were foreign and domestic policies during the 1970s; and (2) what is the relationship between foreign and domestic policy and between both of these policy areas and internal political maneuvering? Studies of five broad policy areas reveal that most policies were very stable during this period and that foreign policy was linked to domestic issues and political competition only to the extent that it impinged on domestic interests. The studies trace the evolution of policies on specific issues such as education, foreign trade, and military doctrine, but they also evaluate these policies and decisions in the larger context to which they belong. Key decisions at the start of the decade affected the evolution of policy in all areas and largely shaped the change from adherence to precepts of the Cultural Revolution to the conviction that economic and technical emphasis must displace efforts to achieve social equality in the short run if China is to become a secure and independent nation.

Existing literature has looked at many factors which have shaped Chinese pension reforms. As China’s pension reform proceeds in an expanding and localising fashion, this book argues that there is a pressing need to examine it in the context of China’s political institutions and economic transformations. The book takes a unique approach by looking at political institutions of the Chinese state and the changing conditions of the Chinese economy, which rarely receive proper treatment in the current analysis of China’s pension reforms.