Rural Development or Sustainable Development in China: Is China’s Rural Development Sustainable?

2 The map on the title page shows the crop production value of China's cultivated land in Yuan per hectare (Reproduced from: Heilig, 1999). The map shows that there are great divergences in crop productivity between cultivated areas in China. Very " profitable " crop production is possible in the provinces of Hubei, Hunan and parts of Jiangsu. A very poor crop production value is generated in the provinces of Gansu, Ningxia and Northern Shaanxi. Explanation: This map displays production values of crop cultivation in China. It belongs to a set of maps, which should provide a more realistic geographical representation of cultivation patterns, than can be derived from either statistical or remote sensing data. These maps were developed at the LUC Project of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) by combining statistical data on crop cultivation at county level (from the " Land Resources " project of the Chinese State Land Administration) with cropping area information from a recent digital land-cover map of the Chinese Institute for Remote Sensing Applications. The map was produced, by masking the county-level crop production values with a digital map of cultivated areas in China. This procedure ensures that a crop production value is displayed only for those areas within a county, where cultivation is reported. For details see: Heilig, 1999. Abstract The following paper first describes China's rural development policies since the 1950s. Then it analyzes some of the rural development problems the country is facing today, and what China is doing to cope with them. While these measures might certainly further improve the living conditions of millions of farmers, the question remains (and is discussed in a separate section) whether these development measures are sustainable – particularly in relation to the environment. Finally , suggestions and recommendations are formulated that could enhance both the effectiveness and sustainability of China's rural development policy. They could serve as guidelines for EU-China cooperation in that field.