Download or read book Agricultural Development in Jiangnan, 1620-1850 written by Li Bozhong and published by Springer. This book was released on 1998-07-13 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries the Yangzi delta has acted as the locomotive of China's economic growth. This book examines the surprising phenomenon of a long period of economic growth from 1620 to 1850 in the traditional agriculture of this extremely densely populated area, when no new land was available and no major technological breakthroughs occurred. Intensification of farming and rationalizations of resources saw an optimum model of peasant family economy become the norm. The contrast with western patterns of development improves our understanding of China's economic performance, past and present.