This book is a selection of articles from Chinese periodicals of the past few years, translated and edited by members of' the research staff of the Secretariat of the Institute of Pacific Relations, This particular publica~ tion forms part of the Institute's programme of research into problems of Jand ulitization, population and rural standards of living in Pacific coun tries. It supplements Professor J. Lossing Buck's statistical investigation of Chinese agriculture. In the past, Western students of the Chinese Innguaye devoted themselves more to the ancient history and culture. of China, Tt 1s better, as in this ease, that Fesearch by Chinese scholars is being made on contemporary Chinese society. The investigations recorded this collection are from such diverse sections as Yunnan, Suiyuan, Kiangsu, Kansu, Shantung, Szechuen, Manchuria and Fukien, The subjects treated are divided into sections: the land siltation itself; the farming problem; exploitation by capital; auxi-Vary' income for peasant families and the' problem of rural migration, China's problem of land tenure seems to be more involved than was that of feudal Europe. Statistics pubished in 1918 by the Department of Agriculture and Commerce estimate that 50 per cent. of the peasants were occupying owners, 30 per cent. were tenants and 20 per cent. owned part of their farm land, while renting the remainder. The investigations of the book show an astonishing concentra tion of land into the hands of fewer and fewer people.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.