During the last few centuries, China's agriculture development process witnessed many inventions and innovations that were ahead of the rest of the world. However, China also experienced a long period of stagnation due to recurrent famines, wars and imperialism. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the abolition of the semi-feudal and semi-colonial system and the establishment of the socialist system, China's rural economy has been rapidly restored and developed. Moreover, Chinese agriculture has ended its stagnant history and entered a new period of rapid development. Although there have been setbacks in the development process over the past 30 years, China has fed almost one-fifth of the world's population with only 7% of the world's arable land. Since the reform and opening up, China's agricultural education and scientific and technological undertakings have also flourished, which has greatly promoted the improvement of China's agricultural productivity.
The book has 10 chapters in the following order:
Chapter 1: Chinese Economy and Agriculture (第一章：中国经济与农业)
Chapter 2: Farmland in China (第二章：中国的农地)
Chapter 3: China's Main Food Crops (第三章：中国主要粮食作物)
Chapter 4: China's Agricultural Regions (第四章：中国农业地区)
Chapter 5: Chinese Farmers (第五章：中国农民)
Chapter 6: Modern Food Contamination (第六章：现代食品污染)
Chapter 7: Genetically Modified Crops (第七章：转基因作物)
Chapter 8: Organic Agriculture in China (第八章：中国的有机农业)
Chapter 9: Food Security in China (第九章：中国的粮食安全)
Chapter 10: Agricultural Challenges (第十章：农业挑战)
The current book volume, Chinese Agriculture (中国农业), is a Chinese reading practice book (简单了解中国农业). It would introduce you to the very important features of agriculture in China (such as the land reforms, major crops, organic farming, genetically modified crops, food safety, etc.). The 4th volume in the Introduction to Chinese Geography Series (中国地理百科全知道) includes both the Chinese text (simplified characters) and pinyin Romanization. With about over 1000 unique Chinese characters, the volume would be suitable for the beginners, lower intermediate and advanced level Chinese language learners (HSK 1-6). Overall, the reading series offers you a variety of elementary level books (Level 1/2/3/4/5/6) to understand China as well as practice Chinese reading fast.
