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An economic geography of China
Geoforum
At the exact opposite end of the scaie is the traditional rural landscape, with few modem changes and a population that is rapidly emigratingand thus worsening an already difficult situation. Between these two extremes is a landscape that is still completely rural In appearance but whose villages are already becoming more urban In their population makeup and In their market orientation. Here, as well in the suburbanized rural areas, the various ways in which urban peoples are compounding the spatial and visual confusion in their occupation of farm buildings as second homes Is also of interest. Whole farms may be purchased, with only the house bdng used, although the barn or stable may also be put to use as a garage. Only one of the farm buildings may be obtained, however, and that usually rented, but it can be of any type, ranging from the house of an operating farm whose other buildings are used by neighboring farmers, to former quarters of agricultural workers or even to a work building like a stable or granary which has been sat aside by a farmer for rental income. A definite zonation or spatial progression of urban influence on the rural area is also implicit in this landscape typology. Roads tributary to the larger urban centers are particularly influential in this pattern develop ment. They not only guide the flow of urban peoples seeking the less crowded peripheries, but attract both farmers from the more outlying areas and wage laborers from the city who are taking the placer of the diminishing farm tenants. The mixture of city worker, farm laborer, part-time farmer, and full-time (but more commercially oriented) farmer in and around these urban strips is thus creating an entirely new social structure, separate from both city core and rural area. Ahead of the actual urban advance this “rural-urban gradient” may also be recognized, if not as clearly from landscape evidence at least as much through the statistics evidencing changes in such things as profession, income, and taxes.
in much of the discussion in the articles and the appended comments of the discussants. The remainder of the publlshed papers continue the more traditional historical research pursued by geographers in the earlier symposia on European qarian geography. Long term changes in rural settlement patterns, farming systems, fleid forms and patterns, and house styles are all discussed, and the areas treated are many and varied, ranging from Ireland and Jutland to northern Portugal. An interesting new note is provided by a study of the functional and physical spaces of the French d/portwmnts, one conclusion of which is the necessity for historical geographers to consider more thoroughly the earlier man-made spatial patterns from the standpoint of needs and capabilities as perceived at the time. It is an uncommon symposium publication that cannot be critlcited for uneven quality of articles and vagueness of theme. Professor DUSSART and his staff and the contributors to this volume can be congratulated for producing one of them. Howard F. GREGOR,
Davis, Calif.
TREGEAR, T. R. (1970): An Economic Gmgmphy of China. 276 pp., 69 cartes. London: Butterworths. 8 4.20.
Le livre de M. TREGEAR est conqu danr I’esprit ie plus classlque des manueis de g6ographie 6conomique. On y passe en revue, au fit der chapltres, et darts I’ordre traditionnel, I’histoire 6conomique &en& les bases naturellw de I%conomie, puis 585 diff6rentes branches, de I’agriculture au commerce extirieur. Ce n’at done pas de ce c&6 qu’il faut chercher queique chose de neuf, non plus que dans une explication d’einembie de Regional variations in thls general urbanizala man&e dont Ies Chinolr conqoivent la tion of the countryside are numerous, however. Thus in Sweden, for example, farm aban- g6ographie 6conomlque, et la mettent en pratique. donment Is occurring at a faster rate than in the German Federal Republic, and within Devant la difficult6 d’utiliser des statistlques the Republic urbanization of rural areas is 6conomiques compldtes, puisque le gouverneproceeding more rapidly around some cities ment chinois n’en pubiie plus depuis 1980, than others despite similar population sizes. I’auteur a choisl de r6p6ter les chlffres disIn Yovenia, settlement of urban populations ponibles pour la pdriode ante’rleure P 1959. is fragmenting villages located among strip Its commencent i dater, et on comprendrait fields much faster than it is affecting string mieux qu’ils soient utllls6s darts une histoire villages surrounded by contiguous fields. On iconomique des dix premi&res an&es du the outskirts of Paris, urban groups with r6gime communiste en Chine, que dans une higher incomes apparentiy prefer second gdographle. On fera compliment cependant homes closer to the city, whereas similar i I’auteur d’avoir su ne pas nous ass6ner ies groups in Base1favor more distant sites. multiples &valuations, qui ant suivi, a What is causing these and other regional and I’e’tranger, le brusque tarissement des sources national differences is the question addressed chinoires. Mais on regrette qu’une conception
1S/73
de la gdugraphie dconomique trop fond6e sur la pr6sentation des r6sultats i’ait conduit a seulement effleurer ies micanismer qui les ont produits. Le lecteur rests sur sa faim: les chiffres sent trop vieux pour 6tre utiiisables, et le5 mdcanismes ne sent pg assez analys6s pour qu’on comprenne ie fonctionnement du sysdme. Par exempie: on reprend, p. 230, des tableaux de production tir6s du recueii ultime pubii6 par Is Bureau central chinois de statistiques en 1960, la liste des viiles qui construiuient en 1957 tracteurs et camions, le tonnage des gisements ertimds de fer en 1921 (p.206), les premiers progrds de I’aviation civile entre 1950 et 1958 (p. 177), etc.. . Mais rien ou presque n’est dit de la planification et de son importance, des structures pyramidaier des ddcisions Cconomiques, des techniques particuli6ms de gertlon, des rapports entre le politique et I’Cconomique dans la conception du salaire, der primes, de la rdpartition dw bienr i I’inrdrieur des communes, du contr&e et de I’expansion de la consommation, du r&e de la flxation des prix et de la stabilisation de la monnaie, de la signification, pour Ie dbwloppement, des choix entre m6chanisatlon et travaux collectifs, etc.. , tous probl8mes qui concernent iminemment la giographie 6conomique A I’6vidence, la g6ographle 6conomique se r6duit, pour i’auteur, i une &he g6ographie de i’homme-producteur. Cette conception date, et tout partlculidrement dons le cas de la Chine qui p&end proposer au monde un mod6ie nouveau des rapports entre I’homme, la production, la confommation, et la sociit6 qui doit en ddriver. Ella conduit malheureusement I’auteur i 61iminer tout ce qui fait probidme, et mbme i se caritaturer lui-m6me ; son paragraphe sur la population est un modile de cc qu’il M faudrait plus faire: la population de la Chine est 6tudiCe en cinq pages, et comme ie premier des quatre composants de l’dnergie, cccl pas avant la page 178! Le plus grand mdrite du llvre consiste i p&enter dins des chap&es clairs et des paragraphes courts I’essentiel des informations dont le chercheur pouvait disposer en 1969. La bibliographie tdmoigne de cet effort de regroupement des donndes. Tout le chapitre sur Ies r6gions agricoles, par exemple, est la synth&e rapide des Chapitres sur I’agriculture dune s6rle de publications de I’Acad6mie des Sciences de Chine sur Ies r6gions Cconomiques, entre 1957 et 1959, qul avaient 6t6 peu diffus6er P I’6poque, et restent la base de toute 6tude dynamlque. On regrettera, pulsque I’auteur avait choiri cc parti pour i’agricuiture, qu’ii n’ait pas cherchi plus syrtdmatiquement ii rendre compte, apds trl, de la masse 6norme d’informatiom 6conomiques fournies par la presse chinoise. Mais cc sera sans doute I’objet d’un prochain ouvrage? P. GENTELLE,
Paris-C.N.R.S.
At the exact opposite end of the scaie is the traditional rural landscape, with few modem changes and a population that is rapidly emigratingand thus worsening an already difficult situation. Between these two extremes is a landscape that is still completely rural In appearance but whose villages are already becoming more urban In their population makeup and In their market orientation. Here, as well in the suburbanized rural areas, the various ways in which urban peoples are compounding the spatial and visual confusion in their occupation of farm buildings as second homes Is also of interest. Whole farms may be purchased, with only the house bdng used, although the barn or stable may also be put to use as a garage. Only one of the farm buildings may be obtained, however, and that usually rented, but it can be of any type, ranging from the house of an operating farm whose other buildings are used by neighboring farmers, to former quarters of agricultural workers or even to a work building like a stable or granary which has been sat aside by a farmer for rental income. A definite zonation or spatial progression of urban influence on the rural area is also implicit in this landscape typology. Roads tributary to the larger urban centers are particularly influential in this pattern develop ment. They not only guide the flow of urban peoples seeking the less crowded peripheries, but attract both farmers from the more outlying areas and wage laborers from the city who are taking the placer of the diminishing farm tenants. The mixture of city worker, farm laborer, part-time farmer, and full-time (but more commercially oriented) farmer in and around these urban strips is thus creating an entirely new social structure, separate from both city core and rural area. Ahead of the actual urban advance this “rural-urban gradient” may also be recognized, if not as clearly from landscape evidence at least as much through the statistics evidencing changes in such things as profession, income, and taxes.
in much of the discussion in the articles and the appended comments of the discussants. The remainder of the publlshed papers continue the more traditional historical research pursued by geographers in the earlier symposia on European qarian geography. Long term changes in rural settlement patterns, farming systems, fleid forms and patterns, and house styles are all discussed, and the areas treated are many and varied, ranging from Ireland and Jutland to northern Portugal. An interesting new note is provided by a study of the functional and physical spaces of the French d/portwmnts, one conclusion of which is the necessity for historical geographers to consider more thoroughly the earlier man-made spatial patterns from the standpoint of needs and capabilities as perceived at the time. It is an uncommon symposium publication that cannot be critlcited for uneven quality of articles and vagueness of theme. Professor DUSSART and his staff and the contributors to this volume can be congratulated for producing one of them. Howard F. GREGOR,
Davis, Calif.
TREGEAR, T. R. (1970): An Economic Gmgmphy of China. 276 pp., 69 cartes. London: Butterworths. 8 4.20.
Le livre de M. TREGEAR est conqu danr I’esprit ie plus classlque des manueis de g6ographie 6conomique. On y passe en revue, au fit der chapltres, et darts I’ordre traditionnel, I’histoire 6conomique &en& les bases naturellw de I%conomie, puis 585 diff6rentes branches, de I’agriculture au commerce extirieur. Ce n’at done pas de ce c&6 qu’il faut chercher queique chose de neuf, non plus que dans une explication d’einembie de Regional variations in thls general urbanizala man&e dont Ies Chinolr conqoivent la tion of the countryside are numerous, however. Thus in Sweden, for example, farm aban- g6ographie 6conomlque, et la mettent en pratique. donment Is occurring at a faster rate than in the German Federal Republic, and within Devant la difficult6 d’utiliser des statistlques the Republic urbanization of rural areas is 6conomiques compldtes, puisque le gouverneproceeding more rapidly around some cities ment chinois n’en pubiie plus depuis 1980, than others despite similar population sizes. I’auteur a choisl de r6p6ter les chlffres disIn Yovenia, settlement of urban populations ponibles pour la pdriode ante’rleure P 1959. is fragmenting villages located among strip Its commencent i dater, et on comprendrait fields much faster than it is affecting string mieux qu’ils soient utllls6s darts une histoire villages surrounded by contiguous fields. On iconomique des dix premi&res an&es du the outskirts of Paris, urban groups with r6gime communiste en Chine, que dans une higher incomes apparentiy prefer second gdographle. On fera compliment cependant homes closer to the city, whereas similar i I’auteur d’avoir su ne pas nous ass6ner ies groups in Base1favor more distant sites. multiples &valuations, qui ant suivi, a What is causing these and other regional and I’e’tranger, le brusque tarissement des sources national differences is the question addressed chinoires. Mais on regrette qu’une conception
1S/73
de la gdugraphie dconomique trop fond6e sur la pr6sentation des r6sultats i’ait conduit a seulement effleurer ies micanismer qui les ont produits. Le lecteur rests sur sa faim: les chiffres sent trop vieux pour 6tre utiiisables, et le5 mdcanismes ne sent pg assez analys6s pour qu’on comprenne ie fonctionnement du sysdme. Par exempie: on reprend, p. 230, des tableaux de production tir6s du recueii ultime pubii6 par Is Bureau central chinois de statistiques en 1960, la liste des viiles qui construiuient en 1957 tracteurs et camions, le tonnage des gisements ertimds de fer en 1921 (p.206), les premiers progrds de I’aviation civile entre 1950 et 1958 (p. 177), etc.. . Mais rien ou presque n’est dit de la planification et de son importance, des structures pyramidaier des ddcisions Cconomiques, des techniques particuli6ms de gertlon, des rapports entre le politique et I’Cconomique dans la conception du salaire, der primes, de la rdpartition dw bienr i I’inrdrieur des communes, du contr&e et de I’expansion de la consommation, du r&e de la flxation des prix et de la stabilisation de la monnaie, de la signification, pour Ie dbwloppement, des choix entre m6chanisatlon et travaux collectifs, etc.. , tous probl8mes qui concernent iminemment la giographie 6conomique A I’6vidence, la g6ographle 6conomique se r6duit, pour i’auteur, i une &he g6ographie de i’homme-producteur. Cette conception date, et tout partlculidrement dons le cas de la Chine qui p&end proposer au monde un mod6ie nouveau des rapports entre I’homme, la production, la confommation, et la sociit6 qui doit en ddriver. Ella conduit malheureusement I’auteur i 61iminer tout ce qui fait probidme, et mbme i se caritaturer lui-m6me ; son paragraphe sur la population est un modile de cc qu’il M faudrait plus faire: la population de la Chine est 6tudiCe en cinq pages, et comme ie premier des quatre composants de l’dnergie, cccl pas avant la page 178! Le plus grand mdrite du llvre consiste i p&enter dins des chap&es clairs et des paragraphes courts I’essentiel des informations dont le chercheur pouvait disposer en 1969. La bibliographie tdmoigne de cet effort de regroupement des donndes. Tout le chapitre sur Ies r6gions agricoles, par exemple, est la synth&e rapide des Chapitres sur I’agriculture dune s6rle de publications de I’Acad6mie des Sciences de Chine sur Ies r6gions Cconomiques, entre 1957 et 1959, qul avaient 6t6 peu diffus6er P I’6poque, et restent la base de toute 6tude dynamlque. On regrettera, pulsque I’auteur avait choiri cc parti pour i’agricuiture, qu’ii n’ait pas cherchi plus syrtdmatiquement ii rendre compte, apds trl, de la masse 6norme d’informatiom 6conomiques fournies par la presse chinoise. Mais cc sera sans doute I’objet d’un prochain ouvrage? P. GENTELLE,
Paris-C.N.R.S.