Shifting Priorities in Chinese Agriculture
At the Los Angeles Times, Michael Meyer, author of “In Manchuria: A Village Called Wasteland...
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LatestIs Land Reform Finally Coming to China?
Local government seizure of farmland is a major cause of social unrest in the Chinese countryside,...
Farmer Proves Potential of Rooftop Planting
A farmer in Zhejiang Province has successfully converted a rooftop into a rice field....
New China Cities: Shoddy Homes, Broken Hope
In the New York Times, Ian Johnson has written a lengthy report about a model town built outside...
Rotten Fruit Juice & the Future of Food Safety in China
Reuters’ Adam Jourdan reports China’s latest food safety scandal: the alleged use of...
‘China’s Leonard Cohen’ Calls Out Corruption
NPR’s Louisa Lim profiles singer Zuoxiao Zuzhou, who has been described as “China’s Leonard Cohen” by Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies, and as the most important musician in China by Ai Weiwei. On These...
Tensions Mount as China Snatches Farms for Homes
The Wall Street Journal explores land ownership in China, and the economic and political factors which lead to farmers being pushed off their land and often into lives of poverty: The root of the problem is an economic system...
State Council May Clamp Down on Land Grabs
Esther Fung and Tom Orlik of The Wall Street Journal call attention to a legislative development that may signal the Chinese government’s intention to step up its crackdown on illegal land grabs: In a little-noticed move,...
China’s Apple Farmers Forced to Do Bees’ Work
At chinadialogue, Dave Goulson describes how heavy pesticide use has wiped out wild bees in the south west of China, leaving farmers to take over the job of pollination. Evidence from around the world points to falling and...
Little Hu and the Mining of the Grasslands
As the 2012 leadership transition looms, The Economist profiles a man tipped to come out ahead in 2022: Hu Chunhua, whose current position as Party secretary of Inner Mongolia parallels Hu (no relation) Jintao’s equivalent...
China to Promote Water Efficiency Through Pricing
China’s latest water conservancy plan will include a system of progressive pricing to discourage excessive consumption. The country’s best known efforts to confront its deepening water crisis have been titanic...
Xiong Peiyun on Land and Revolt
Europe correspondent for Window on the South (南风窗) Xiong Peiyun shared his thoughts on land...
Nearly Half China Farmers ‘Suffer Land Grabs’
The recent uprising in Wukan, Guangdong focused attention on the plight of farmers whose land is confiscated by developers without proper compensation. With China’s rapid economic growth and little oversight over...
China's Land Grabs: A Case Study
For Al Jazeera, Melissa Chan reports from a village where farmers had their land confiscated only weeks before the autumn harvest: Documents provided to Al Jazeera by township-level officials showed contracts the government...
Chinese Petitioners Detained During Biden's Visit
The Associated Press reports that a group of farmers petitioning for land seizure compensation were arrested and physically restrained for days to deny them access to visiting US Vice President Joe Biden: The farmers, all women...
Why We Care About the Price of Water in China
At Bloomberg, The Council on Foreign Relations’ Peter Orszag argues for higher water prices in China to encourage efficiency: In Oman, a Middle Eastern desert country where water is scarce, it is understood to be more...
Amid China’s Economic Transformation, Many Farmers Struggle
The Los Angeles Times takes a look at why China’s farmers are getting left behind in the economic reform process: …With global food prices rising, particularly in China’s cities, conventional wisdom had it that...
Shandong Postcard: Big Changes Sweep Rural China
Reuters reports on how the urbanization of China is transforming life for those left behind to till the land: The virtual absence of any farmers under 40 speaks to China’s urbanization. Youngsters decamp as soon as they...
