The Evolution and Dynamics of Managerial Economic Activities of Peasant Families: Ding County since the Republican Era

Abstract

While the overall pattern of peasant economic activities in Ding county has remained largely unchanged since the Republican years, in which farming as the major source of income was supplemented with sidelines, this article finds constant changes in the ways in which this pattern continues and in the nature of supplementary sidelines. Specifically, there have been four types of peasant households: completely farming; farming combined with sidelines; non-farming combined with sidelines; completely non-farming, with the “combined households” being the dominant type and undergoing a transition from the farming-based to the non-farming-based. The farming household-based managerial pattern currently remains and will continue to be an optimal choice in the long run.