What role did the Chinese government play in agricultural development? This has been a disputed topic for quite some time. In the West, China scholars can be divided into two main schools: those that believe that the Chinese government was dictatorial - often referred to as the “Oriental Despotism” school - and those scholars who praise the Chinese government for being more benevolent, pointing to China’s longstanding tradition of limited tax rates, the emperor’s concern for the common people, and government policies which encouraged economic growth. Most of the research after the second World War supports the thesis of this of second school. This paper will survey academic works published during the past forty years which have studied the role of the Chinese government on agricultural development. Their findings can be broken down into three groups: 1) agricultural research and development; 2) building the infrastructure; and 3) the regulation of the food grain supply.
