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. Table of Contents Acknowledgements 11 Introduction 15 1 How the Predicament Arose 61 2 Rice Knowledge Systems in Transition 105 3 Reference Models for Transmitting Knowledge 145 4 Technological Choice in the Wake of Migration 167 5 Land-Use Strategies 187 Conclusion: A Skill Perspective on Migration 229 Appendix 239 References 273 Index 29