ECONOMIC - AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700140369-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 369
• Publication Date: November 12, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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MA5 1952 DS ~E
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
MIN INFORMATION FROM
OREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
F OD CLASSIFICATION "-' THICM= w
COUNTRY China
SUBJECT Economic - Agriculture, land reform
HOW
PUBLISHED Yearbook
WHERE
PUBLISHED Shanghai
DATE
PUBLISHED 1 Jul 1952
LANGUAGE Chinese
DATE OF
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
SOURCE 1952 Jen-min Shou-ts'e, pp 35-38
CHINESE LAND REFORM PROVIDES PEASANTS
WITH TOOLS OF PRODUCTION
LComment and Summary: This report is a summary of land reform
progress in China from late 1950 to mid-1952. It was compiled by
the publishers of the 1952 Jen-min Shou-ts'e (People's Handbook)
from a number of newspaper and Hsin-hua She reports, as indicated
in the text. The report gives a general survey of the progress of
land reform throughout the country during the winter of 1950 - 1951
and describes the progress by regional areas from 1950 to 1952,
including acreages and populations involved implements, animals,
grain, etc., confiscated and redistributed]
From the promulgation of the Land Reform Law of the People's Republic of
China in June 1950 to the spring season of May 1951, the land reform movement
extended into newly liberated areas, affecting 128 million peasants in East
China, South Central China, Northwest China, and Southwest China, four great
administrative regions. This involved 60 million peasants in East China,
which included 80 per cent of the hsiangs in the newly liberated areas of
Shantung, North Kiangsu, South Kiangsu, South Anhwei and 80 per cent of North
Anhwei and Chekiang hsiangs, as well as 36 per cent of the hsiangs in Fukien;
approximately 50 million peasants in South and Central China, which included
12 million peasants in Honan, 8,500,000 in Hupeh, 14 million in Hunan, 9
million in Kiangsi, 4 million in Kwangtung, 2,100,000 in Kwangsi; about
7,300,000 peasants in Northwest China, which included 6,800,000 in Shensi,
400,000 in Kansu (Ch'ing-yang Special Administrative District only), and
90,000 in Ningsia (Yen-ch'i and Ning-shuo hsiens); about 11 million peasants
in Southwest China, including 3 million in East Szechwan, 600,000 in West
STATE
ARMY
NAVY INSRB DISTRIBUTION
AIR ._I_._~ Fnl _I __
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i'sJI OF 1arthL USA th4i''o
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Szechwan, 3 million in South Szechwan, 4 million in North Szechwan, 300,000 in
Sikang, (Lu-shan, Ya-an, and Hsi-ch'ang hsiens), 250,000 in Kweichow (eight
ch'us in seven hsiens), and 80,000 in Yunnan (nine hsiangs in Kunming and
Pao-shan hsiens).
From winter 1951 to spring 1952, land reform was continued in various
parts of the country, and a re-examination :'as undertaken in areas where it had
been completed.
East China (Chieh-fang Jib-pao, 8 Dec 511
In East China, 11 hsiens and parts of 63'btbers,i!jtHa'.total of'5,403
hsiangs, failed to cArry out land reform in the 1950 - 1951 campaign. On
19 November 1951, the fourth conference of the East China Military and
Political Committee was held. Jao Shu-shih, the chairman of the conference
urged the members to complete land reform early in East China. He said that
for land reform.to be finished as soon as possible, land deeds should be
granted, property rights fixed in the land distribution areas, and the peasant
masses should be spurred on in the areas where land reform had not been
entirely completed. To complete land reform by spring 1952, past land reform
experience should be fully utilized in the areas where it had not yet begun.
In East China in December 1951, more than 39,000 hsiangs (ts'un),
representating 90 per cent of the total hsiangs in this area, had completed
their task of land distribution. Among them, more than 23,000 hsiangs (ts'un)
effected land reform and received land deeds. More than 12,000 hsiangs were
still to accomplish this and to receive land deeds.
To gather a good harvest, peasants revised their production plans and
used more labor and fertilizer on their land in the areas where land reform
was completed.
About 10 per cent of the total number of hsiangs and ts'un in East China
had not completed the land reform program. This included mountain and coastal
areas of Chekiang and Fukien, as well as the formerly flooded area of North
Anhwei, Shantung, and North Kiangsu. Land reform was extended into these areas
with such favorable results that completion in March 1952 was predicted.
(Central People's Broadcasting Station, 29 December 3.951).
Land reform on an experimental basis in the suburban areas of Shanghai was
initiated in the middle of December 1950 and completed 11; months later, at the
end of November 1951. After land reform was completed, with-the-abolition of
the feudal system of land ownership, basic changes were made in the suburban
areas.. The productivity of suburban land was increased and a positive and
patriotic spirit fostered. During the.course of land reform, more than 184,100
mou of land, including 173,900 mou of arable land, 8,160 dwellings, 135 cows,
more than 15,000 farm tools, 343,800 tattles of grain, and 55,540 articles of
furniture were confiscated or requisitioned. More than 1,486 mou of unoccupied,
uncultivated, and arable land owned by aliens was also taken over. All the
confiscated and returned land was nationalized and usage rights allocated to
peasants having little or no land. The abolition of the feudal system resulted
in a tremendous increase in the productivity of land.
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At the same time, the completion of suburban land reform had favorable
effects on urban reconstruction, as well as on industrial and commercial
development, which the feudal system had hampered. For example, a landlord
in the Hain-thing area collected 43 piculs of grain per year as rent for the
leasing of 13 mou of land to an enterpriser who used it for a factory. After
the abolition of the feudal system, the land was nationalized and devoted to
the requirements of urban reconstruction and industrial and commercial
development. According to incomplete statistics, 105 units, including 18
industrial and commercial firms, were given rights to use land amounting to
3,277 mou; 201 private and public units, including 29 industrial and com-
mercial firms, were given rights on state-owned land amounting to 3,300 mou.
The completion of the suburban land reform had favorable effects on the
economic reconstruction of Shanghai.
Central and South China (Hankou, Chang-chiang Jih-pao, 9 Dec 51 and 5 Feb 52)
From winter 1950 to spring 1951, land distribution was completed in an
area with a population of 68 million, to which was added by summer of the same
year an area with 12 million population. In addition, 69 millicn mou of land,
784,000 cows, 3,700,000,000 catties of grain (which, added to past confis-
cations, made a total of 5 billion catties), 9 million room units of dwellings,
and more than 12 million farm tools were confiscated or requisitioned. The
new land system was carried out for the benefit of the peasants. According to
a study of four provinces and 16 hsiens, in which the amount of land per capita
was taken as 100, the new land distribution,, after land reform, showed the
following: the average farmer landlord had 80, the poor, hired peasants, 90;
the middle peasant, 110; and the rich peasant, 130-150. This is in accord
with the Communist Party policy abolishing feudalism, giving every landlord
an opportunity to reform by labor, freeing every poor peasant from poverty
and thereby improving the living standards, protecting the middle peasants,
and preserving rich peasantry. This has completely changed the rural
economic structure and paved the way for increasing farm production. In this
new economic environment, a new political democracy, a new cultural and
educational system, a new public morality, and new leaders are emerging.
This was the first time that peasants could use their land to work for
themselves and to develop production with the understanding that their
Interests and the national interests are one. This guarantees progress
toward prosperity for the whole rural society. It shows the peasants how to
assume responsibility in the development of industrialization. In 1951,
agricultural production was increased by 10 per cent with the help of campaigns
under the following slogans: "Resist the US and Aid Korea," "Contribute Arms,"
"Contribute to Public Grain Collections," "Sell Cotton," "Reconstruct and
Repair the Huai Ho," and "Prevent Floods and Drought"; all of these objectives
were realized satisfactorily. This indicates further achievements to come.
To date, an area with 60 million peasants has not yet been included in
the land distribution. It is planned, from winter 1951 to spring 1952, to
distribute land in an area with 50 million population. In the meantime, there
will be an examination of the land situation and issuance of land deeds in the
areas where land distribution was completed.
Since December 1951, the peasant movement has developed in an area with
a population of 50 million, where land distribution is to take place and also
in an area with a population of 60 million, where reinvestigation of land
reform is scheduled. By February 1952, land distribution work was completed
in an area with a population of 16 million and reinvestigation, in an area
with a population of 10 million,
STAT
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Northwest China (Sian, Chun-cj&7_527 hung Jih-pao, 19 Mar 51; Hsin-hua She, 28 May 51;
Chun-chung Jih-pao, 5
From winter. 1950 to spring 1951, land reform was undertaken and completed
in 3,017 hsiangs in Northwest China, involving important agricultural areas
and including the well-known cotton and wheat region of Kuan-chung. Peasants
who had little or no land obtained 3 mou each and the feudal system was
completely broken up. More than one million mou of land, 30,000 farm animals,
and 200,000 farm tools were confiscated or expropriated. Because peasants
received land and supplies, their patriotism and productivity were enhanced.
From the winter of 1951 to date, land reform has been completed in
4,362 hsiangs of Northwest China, and this constituted 72.6 per cent of the
original land reform plan. Included were 1,435 hsiangs in Shensi, 2,374 in
Kansu, 324 in Ningsia, and 231 in Tsioghai. Land reform will be completed in
the middle of May in An-k'ang, Nan-cheng, Ping-Jiang, Ting-si, and Tien-shui
special administrative areas, and In the mountain areas of Ling-wu in Ningsia,
totaling 1,498 hsiangs. Moreover, land reform will be undertaken after the
fall wheat harvest season in 24 hsiangs in the Chin-ling area, 78 hsiangs in
the An-k'ang mountain area in Shensi, and 36 hsiangs in Kansu. Except for
Sinkiang,?land reform has been achieved in all provinces and in one munici-
pality.
The land reform movement has put an end to the feudal system and laid
the basis for satisfying the demand of peasants for land. From the winter of
195.1 to the spring of 1952, some 10-12 million peasants obtained land and
other farm supplies in Northwest China.
Land reform began on 11 November 1950 and ended on 23 January 1951 in the
western suburban area of Sian (12 ch'ue). It began after the Administrative
Council promulgated the Suburban Land Reform Regulations. It was carried out
successfully and with little deviation because of the reduction of rents, the
campaign against bandits, and experience gained in land reform of the suburban
areas of Tientsin and Peiping. In this reform, 7,164.2 mou of land under feudal
ownership, 4,031 farm tools, 46 farm animals, 216 room units of dwellings, and
41,800 catties of grain were confiscated or requisitioned in the western suburbs
of Sian. These were equitably distributed to 1,894 families who had had little
or no land or other property. This has substantially met the needs of the poor
peasants and farm laborers. At the same time, landlords with little or no
remaining income received an equal share of land and farm implements so that
they might reform themselves through labor.
Land reform in Southwest China was undertaken after a campaign against
bandits and despots and a campaign for rent reduction and mortgage cancellation.
It was launched according to well-prepared plans and in an orderly manner after
the decision to speed up land reform was made at the second meeting of the
Southwest China Military and Political Committee. The first phase of land
reform lasted from January and February 1951 to the end of April and the
beginning of May 1951. The second phase lasted from June 1951 to the end of
September 1951. Thus, land reform was completed in the entire area of 67
hsiens and in a part of the area of 134 hsiens and the suburbs of 6 cities.
This affected 4,392 hsiangs, amounting to 29.52 per cent of the total number
of hsiangs in this area, with a population of 35 million.
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The third phase of land reform has been successfully concluded. The three
phases affected an area with'74,315,489 peasants, or 82.17 per cent of the
total population of Southwest China. The first phase, including the experi-
mental period, began in November 1950 and ended in April 1951. The second
phase was from May 1951 to October 1951 and the third phase, from the middle
of October 1951 to May 1952. Land reform was completed in an area.with 259
hsiens, 9 cities, and 12,165 hsiangs. Howev,~r, land reform has not been carried
out in an area with 142 hsiens and three cities in Yunnan and Kweichow
provinces. This area (not including Tibet) has about 16,120,000 people or
17.8 per cent of the total population of Southwest China. Land reform will be
completed in the winter of 1952, with the exception of the area occupied by
the national minorities, where it is not to be applied. So we may conclude
that the historical mission of abolishing the feudal system and the landlord
class has been achieved in Southwest China.
In the areas where land reform has been completed, 30-40-per cent of the
total rural population participated in the peasants' associations, with a total
membership of 25 million. As a result, the strength of the people's militia
has been greatly increased.
North
Northwest
Northeast
East
South Central
Southwest
land Reform Com-
pleted before
Spring 1950
Land Reform Com-
pleted from Winter
1950 to Spring 1951
Land Reform Com-
pleted from Summer
1951 to 1952
60,000,000
--
--
1,800,000
7,300,000
15,400,000
33,000,000
--
--
45,000,000
60,00o,000
17,500,000
17,000,000
50,000,000
50,000,000
--
11,000,000
62,000,000
Total 156,800,000 128,300,000 144,900,000
STAT
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