He now uses his own organic material, also the organic material of the chickens and buffaloes to enrich his fields.' I read very precisely what he meant. Then, as an afterthought, he added, 'It is not only the attention of the farmer that helps. 'Responsibility' made them care about the harvest.

The brigade chief, a bald-headed veteran Communist, explained once more that peasants could now decide on their own crops and routines. It is harsh yet the Great Cultural Revolution was far more cruel.ĭays later I visited 'a big brigade' in the province of Hubei that was beginning to refer to itself, not as a brigade but, again, as a cun, a village. It owns the fields the peasant rents an allotted share of land if he meets the state's quota (once called the landlord's rent), he keeps the rest. The state, via the commune, has replaced the old landlord.

For Westerners this recognition seems equivalent to the rediscovery of the wheel. The 'responsibility system' in Sichuan has demonstrated that peasants work best when they tend their own fields. This huge province lives on the margin of hunger. But if the rains fell at the wrong time, the wheat would be beaten to the ground and lost, and there would be a slim rice crop in the fall. Here was Sichuan in green spring, the wheat turning yellow, soon to be golden. This has been a great year in China: a prospective record harvest, record incomes. The gurgling babies pleasure the eye - no trachoma, no scabies, no rickety limbs, no potbellies of famine.īut the eye can deceive. So is the astonishing good health, the ruddy vitality of the people, so different from the scrawny peasants I remember 40 years ago. Shoemakers ply their trade itinerant dentists, with their foot-paddle drills, have reappeared. Canaries are for sale again, along with other caged birds, and cricket boxes. Down the market lanes peasants sell geese and ducks eels from the canal ditches fish from their ponds fruit fresh vegetables herbs, spices, ginger root delicacies. Peasants bring in their wives' squawking chickens, eight to a basket.

Hogs come squealing to market in wheelbarrows, on tractors, even lashed to the backs of bicycles, then reappear in the markets as huge slabs of pink-and-white pork. In big cities like Chengdu and Chongqing, the huge food markets overwhelm the eye with food that can be bought without coupons. The small towns throb again, their booths full of sweets, cookies, housewares, clothes, textiles, flower pots and flowers. Years ago, only their nostrils were visible.Ī quick six-day tour of the province, for an oldtimer, is a delight.

Rickity cricket revolution