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sustainability
Article
Socio-Ecological Adaptation of Agricultural
Heritage Systems in Modern China: Three Cases in
Qingtian County, Zhejiang Province
Wenjun Jiao 1, Anthony M. Fuller 1,2, Siyuan Xu 3, Qingwen Min 1,* and Minfang Wu 4
1Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100101, China; jiaowj@igsnrr.ac.cn (W.J.); tfuller@uoguelph.ca (A.M.F.)
2School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Guelph,
ON N1G 2W1, Canada
3College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China;
xusiyuan708@163.com
4Agriculture Bureau of Qingtian County, Lishui 323900, China; qtwmf123@163.com
*Correspondence: minqw@igsnrr.ac.cn; Tel./Fax: +86-10-6488-9007
Academic Editor: Marc A. Rosen
Received: 18 September 2016; Accepted: 29 November 2016; Published: 2 December 2016
Abstract:
This paper, on rural restructuring in China, focuses on the ability of agricultural heritage
systems to adapt to modernizing conditions in the rural economy. Since 2002, when FAO initiated the
protection of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), the value of agricultural
heritage has been widely acknowledged, as has the importance and urgency to protect the systems in
which they are embedded. However, such complex systems have not been fully assessed for their
contribution to food security, ecosystem services and cultural preservation, as well as their ability to
adapt to the demands of modernization. In fact, they have not been effectively evaluated as whole
systems, largely because we have not yet devised satisfactory ways of studying complex systems,
nor have we been able to assess them fully for their multi-faceted contributions to sustainability.
This paper accepts the premise that such systems are sustainable in that they have survived as
agro-ecosystems for many hundreds of years, having endured the predations of droughts, famines,
plagues, floods and wars. This ability to sustain a rich diversity of biological and human systems is
considered, in the theory of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), to be a form of resilience, meaning
that these systems have either formed a new normal or returned to the old normal after a period of
environmental or social stress. In effect, ancient agricultural heritage systems can be seen to represent
what has been traditional and normal in China, but which today are faced with the overwhelming
forces of modernization. Taking three examples from Qingtian County in Southern China, where
physical and political conditions are consistent, the paper shows how similar rice-fish systems adapt
differently and sustain themselves in the face of modernization, and particularly to the loss of youth
and labor to urbanisation. One system self-adjusts by using remittances from abroad to sustain the
system: an example of self-organization. In another township, the pursuit of tourism is the main form
of adaptation to large losses of working population and marginal incomes. To maintain the landscape
as a key attraction for tourists, this community has re-assembled abandoned rice terraces and is
farming them as a collective enterprise under the auspices of a co-operative: an example of land
and labor restructuring that has become common as the dominant form of agrarian change in China.
In a third example, the local rice-fish system is being strengthened by modern farming technology
and scientific techniques: an example of technological adaptation. The discussion explores the three
responses as evidence of sustainable practice involving local restructuring, continued ingenuity, and
the creative support of local governments in the face of the homogenizing demands of modernization.
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260; doi:10.3390/su8121260 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 2 of 16
Keywords:
modernization and agrarian restructuring; Globally Important Agricultural Heritage
Systems (GIAHS); Complex Adaptive Systems theory (CAS); rice-fish farming; labor loss; land
abandonment; Qingtian County; China
1. Introduction
Rice-fish systems in China, created in ancient times to make mountainous areas more habitable,
symbolize the adaptive relations between humans and nature [
1
]. Many variations of rice-fish terrace
agriculture have survived and are still important food security systems which include appropriate
technology and a local knowledge culture. However, with modernity bringing technological change,
new social values and transformative economic development, China’s rice-fish systems have been
increasingly challenged [
2
]. So have many other traditional agricultural systems in different parts of
the world [
3
]. Recognizing the vulnerability of these agricultural systems, FAO started an initiative for
the conservation and sustainable management of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems
(GIAHS) in 2002. Rice-fish culture in Qingtian County was designated as one of the first five GIAHS
pilot sites in the world in 2005 [4,5], which was the first designated GIAHS in China and was followed by
another 10 GIAHS designations in the country in the next ten years. In this sense, agricultural heritage
systems represent key forms of complex systems survival in the current wave of agrarian change.
Agricultural heritage systems are precious treasures left by the ancestors. They are living
systems that are dynamic and adaptive, exhibiting the strategic values of multi-functionality and
sustainability [
6
]. They also have exceptional ecological, social, cultural, scientific and demonstration
values [
7
]. Nevertheless, it has become a general concern whether these unique agricultural production
systems, having survived for many hundreds of years and having endured the predations of droughts,
famines, plagues, floods and wars, will cope with the predations brought about by China’s national
policy of urbanization, If and in what way will rice-fish terrace systems remain sustainable.
The spectacular development of the Chinese economy since Opening Up (1980s) is comparatively
well known. There are abundant data-laden references to population dynamics [8–11], increased economic
activity [
12
–
15
], rapid urbanization [
16
–
18
], and impressive poverty reduction gains [
19
–
21
]. The main
evidence of the economic transformation that made China ‘the World’s factory’ derives from economic
analysis of the periods of state-led industrialization, from heavy to light manufacturing and ultimately
to mass-urbanization, always achieved with an emphasis on infrastructural development [
10
,
22
,
23
]).
The focus of this change was in the cities and ports of eastern China, leaving the west and its vast
mountainous areas as the rural hinterland and the main sources of migrant labor [18,24,25].
For this paper, two critical components of the transformative era have been selected to provide
some specific details of the agrarian reaction to this massive on-going change as represented by the
traditional rice-fish systems in South China: they are labor migration and land transfer. The feature of
labor migration drives the modernization process and is of particular importance for the context of
this paper. The loss of adult labor, both men and women, is widely seen in almost all the villages of
China. The chronic demographic condition of some villages has reached the point that some scholars
refer to them as ‘hollowed out’ communities [
26
,
27
]. The loss of adult labor is having profound effects
on rural and agricultural development [
28
,
29
], social relations in the household and among villagers
who are mostly ‘left-behind’ people [
30
], and the disposition of land [
13
,
31
,
32
]. With a large amount of
rural labor migrating into the secondary and tertiary sectors [
16
,
33
,
34
], land abandonment has spread
nationwide. Incomplete statistics show that more than 20 provinces (about 2/3 of the total) have
reported domestic land abandonment since the 1990s [
35
], which has already negatively affected the
stability of agricultural production. In such a situation, land transfer has become an effective pathway
for migrant farmers to arrange the disposition of their contracted land when they no longer want to
retain it for farming or for security purposes [36–38].
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 3 of 16
Undoubtedly, labor loss and the rapid increase of abandoned land are inimical to the protection
and continuance of agricultural heritage systems that are dependent on human labor, local knowledge
and the ingenuity of peasants. If few able bodied persons are left in the village to farm the land,
the sustainability of many areas where agricultural heritage has long been practiced will inevitably
be affected. The essential questions are: what responses to modernization are such ancient heritage
systems taking in this era of spectacular restructuring in contemporary China, and does the GIAHS
designation, a very prestigious international label, contribute to enabling the farming system to
continue despite the pressure for change, or does the system adapt in some way to accommodate
the clear need for improved incomes, the continuing call for geographical mobility of labor and the
inevitable quest for modernization in farming?
Bearing these questions in mind, this paper examines the responses to modernization in the
Qingtian rice-fish system using the conceptual framework of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) as a
reference guide. Whether the responses to modernization are the same or differentiated in different
locations is the initial question in a political environment where standardization of responses is
generally expected and often encouraged. To what extent the processes of agrarian change produce
sustainable outcomes is a key question. Offering some plausible explanations of the responses observed
forms the conclusion of the paper.
2. Study Area
2.1. Qingtian County and Rice-Fish Culture
Qingtian County in Zhejiang Province is a mountainous area traversed by the river Ou, only
60 miles from the East China Sea. It is renowned as the hometown of overseas Chinese people, of stone
carvings and of field-fish (The ‘field-fish’ is a local term for the red carp raised in the rice terraces by
villagers. The field-fish is a local heritage variety of carp, consisting of seven colors in which red is the
most common one.) cultivation. The county has a total area of 2493 km
2
, of which 90% is covered by
mountains, 5% by water bodies and only 5% by farmland, and has a registered population of 529,000.
With such a small proportion of land suitable for agriculture, it is not surprising to find that, in the past,
large numbers of people have left the area. For those who stayed behind, maintaining the terraced
rice-fish upland farming system was one of the livelihood choices available.
In Qingtian County, the pressure of livelihood maintenance has long been apparent. Since the
onset of the Qing Dynasty, the rural people of the county have opted for domestic and overseas
migration as one way to relieve the pressures and constraints of poverty such that three large-scale
emigration waves occurred between 1842 and 1937 [
39
]. Being near the sea, many communities availed
themselves of easy access to trading to make a livelihood. Traditions of relations with overseas countries
grew up with the trade in stone carvings. These pre-conditions meant that by the time of industrial
modernization, there were already established several migration circuits and many perceived benefits
of out-migration. Thanks to Opening Up, the scale of overseas migration has increased rapidly since
1985 and the modern period (1990s to the present) has witnessed many others taking this well-trodden
road to material betterment. It is officially estimated that there were 279,600 overseas Chinese people
from Qingtian County living in 121 countries and regions abroad by the end of 2014 (These data were
collected from Qingtian Statistical Yearbook 2014.)
The topography and moist climate conditions in Qingtian County have long rendered this area
suitable for wet rice production in the small man-made terraces on the upland valley sides. Water is
conserved in the soils under the forest cover at the top of the mountain slopes and provides a constant
supply of fresh water for rice cultivation and village needs (Figure 1). A traditional economy of rice
and fish has been developed in the terraces over many hundreds of years and is ingeniously supported
by a gravity-flow irrigation system which has a history of at least 1300 years [
40
]. The Qingtianrice-fish
culture, recognized as a GIAHS by FAO in June 2005, is a world-class agricultural heritage system and
represents many thousands of square kilometers of similar landscape inSouth China.
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 4 of 16
Sustainability 2016, 8, 1260 4 of 16
Figure 1. Depiction of rice-fish terrace landscape in Qingtian, South China.
The rice-fish system has survived many perturbations over time, such as disease, famine, floods
and drought, as well as frequent local and regional conflicts. It is a robust and resilient system
combining human agency and many natural advantages including the landscape and the micro-
climate [2,41]. The landscape today is the product of many generations of trial and error in wet rice
and fish cultivation [42]. Preserving and developing these environmentally friendly heritage systems
is clearly advantageous for society, but requires local people with the skill and knowledge to maintain
and operate them. These systems are labor intensive, physically demanding and vulnerable to the
usual panoply of threats and risks experienced by upland farmers such as plant disease, unreliable
weather and fluctuating market conditions. The overriding concern and one that has not been faced
hitherto, is that of out-migration of the farm population and the loss of their labor and knowledge.
According to official statistical data, out-migrants in Qingtian County reached 131,900 in 2014, which
accounted for 30% of the local farm population (These data were collected from Qingtian Statistical
Yearbook 2014.).
2.2. Location of Case Villages
What then are the responses of farm communities in the Qingtian county area to modernization
in general, to continued out-migration and adjustments in landholding, and to the GIAHS
designation in particular? In order to explore these questions, three village sites were selected:
Longxian, Xiaozhoushan, and Renzhuangin the Southeast of the county (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Location of the three villages under study in Qingtian County.
Figure 1. Depiction of rice-fish terrace landscape in Qingtian, South China.
The rice-fish system has survived many perturbations over time, such as disease, famine,
floods and drought, as well as frequent local and regional conflicts. It is a robust and resilient
system combining human agency and many natural advantages including the landscape and the
micro-climate [
2
,
41
]. The landscape today is the product of many generations of trial and error in
wet rice and fish cultivation [42]. Preserving and developing these environmentally friendly heritage
systems is clearly advantageous for society, but requires local people with the skill and knowledge to
maintain and operate them. These systems are labor intensive, physically demanding and vulnerable to
the usual panoply of threats and risks experienced by upland farmers such as plant disease, unreliable
weather and fluctuating market conditions. The overriding concern and one that has not been faced
hitherto, is that of out-migration of the farm population and the loss of their labor and knowledge.
According to official statistical data, out-migrants in Qingtian County reached 131,900 in 2014, which
accounted for 30% of the local farm population (These data were collected from Qingtian Statistical
Yearbook 2014.).
2.2. Location of Case Villages
What then are the responses of farm communities in the Qingtian county area to modernization
in general, to continued out-migration and adjustments in landholding, and to the GIAHS designation
in particular? In order to explore these questions, three village sites were selected: Longxian,
Xiaozhoushan, and Renzhuangin the Southeast of the county (Figure 2).
Sustainability 2016, 8, 1260 4 of 16
Figure 1. Depiction of rice-fish terrace landscape in Qingtian, South China.
The rice-fish system has survived many perturbations over time, such as disease, famine, floods
and drought, as well as frequent local and regional conflicts. It is a robust and resilient system
combining human agency and many natural advantages including the landscape and the micro-
climate [2,41]. The landscape today is the product of many generations of trial and error in wet rice
and fish cultivation [42]. Preserving and developing these environmentally friendly heritage systems
is clearly advantageous for society, but requires local people with the skill and knowledge to maintain
and operate them. These systems are labor intensive, physically demanding and vulnerable to the
usual panoply of threats and risks experienced by upland farmers such as plant disease, unreliable
weather and fluctuating market conditions. The overriding concern and one that has not been faced
hitherto, is that of out-migration of the farm population and the loss of their labor and knowledge.
According to official statistical data, out-migrants in Qingtian County reached 131,900 in 2014, which
accounted for 30% of the local farm population (These data were collected from Qingtian Statistical
Yearbook 2014.).
2.2. Location of Case Villages
What then are the responses of farm communities in the Qingtian county area to modernization
in general, to continued out-migration and adjustments in landholding, and to the GIAHS
designation in particular? In order to explore these questions, three village sites were selected:
Longxian, Xiaozhoushan, and Renzhuangin the Southeast of the county (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Location of the three villages under study in Qingtian County.
Figure 2. Location of the three villages under study in Qingtian County.
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 5 of 16
Longxian is located in a southeast valley of Qingtian County, only 40 min by bus from the county
center. Covering 4.6 km
2
, it has a registered population of 869 and more than 800 people living in over
20 countries and regions abroad. After the GIAHS designation, Longxian became the favored tourist
destination for visitors to the rice-fish system.
Being more than 1 h from the county town, Xiaozhoushan is a remote mountain village with large
scale rice-fish terraces on steep hillsides.
Renzhuang, situated in a wide valley, is 40 min by regular bus from the county center. With
terraces and large flat rice paddies, Renzhuang village has a diversified range of crops, which makes it
the scientific base for improving and maintaining the rice-fish system in the county.
3. Material and Methods
3.1. The Framework of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS)
Agricultural heritage systems are Complex Adaptive Systems that are multi-scaled and
multi-functional [
42
]. Their complexity is threefold. First, any important agricultural heritage consists
of social, ecological and historical parts, among which, both the social and ecological components
have deep historical dimensions. As difficult as it is to measure the legacy of history, it is vital to take
into account the past for an understanding of agricultural heritage systems today. Secondly, the core
systems are social and ecological systems that include many sub-systems. Almost all the sub-systems
are inter-dependent in various ways and affect each other to some degree. For instance, the social
system involves water management at the village level which, as a form of human intervention in the
water cycle, clearly affects other parts of the ecological system. Thirdly, both the core systems and their
sub-systems are influenced by external forces. Local policies, trade with other communities, national
development strategies are potentially significant external forces that have important effects on the
structures, functions and prospects of agricultural heritage systems. The extent to which sub-systems
affect each other depends on the scale of the pressures brought by external forces [
43
]. The ability
to survive is considered a form of resilience, meaning that these systems have either formed a new
normal or returned to the old normal after a period of stress. In this paper, when a system reaches a
new normal, the process is called adaptation.
The three villages in Qingtian County provide three cases of differential adaptation in maintaining
and supporting a rice-fish system when faced with challenges brought about by modernization,
especially labor loss and land abandonment. Homogenizing or differentiating responses to change
are in themselves multi-scaled and complex. In response, this paper invites the use of a framework
of ‘Complex Adaptive Systems’ to organize and keep track of the many variables and possible
explanations involved [
44
–
47
]. The social system that maintains the Qingtian rice-fish system consists
of governments, cooperatives, farmers and tourism agents as social actors. Land transfer, tourism,
external capital are dynamic economic conditions in the socio-economic system, while the ecological
system, on the other hand, includes ecological services (e.g., erosion control), terraces, local crop and
fish varieties (Qingtian field-fish), biodiversity, water resources, etc. (Figure 3).
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 6 of 16
Sustainability 2016, 8, 1260 6 of 16
Figure 3. Conceptualized socio-ecological components of Qingtian rice-fish system (One way to enter
the system in Figure 3 is to place the topic of major interest in the center. The subsystems that touch
the central topic are those most likely to affect and be affected by adjustments at the center. Outside
subsystems have indirect influence in that they closely interact with the subsystems near the center.
This would represent the researchers’ expectation of the connections in the system (size of subsystem
represents importance), which can be verified by research in the field and which allows surprises to
be noted (as indicated by symbol “?”). A three-dimensional diagram would make the complexity of
these connections more explicit.) Note: ? = unspecified sub-system.
3.2. Data Collection and Processing
The data collection technique of this paper was that of observation and questioning in an
inductive approach to enquiry. The overall framework of observation is adapted from complex
systems thinking which suggests that almost all sub-systems are joined together in various ways and
influence each other to certain degrees depending on the ‘change’ that is being brought about and
studied [43]. The type and sequence of themes are informed by ‘appreciative enquiry’, a system for
recognizing and valuing the various assets that each situation has according to the question being
posed or the change being observed. The inductive nature of this approach ensures that no
presumption of outcome is given at the outset and that through observation and discussion a picture
of the situation will emerge that reflects the ‘lived’ reality as reported by locals, officials and experts.
This may be referred to as the ‘big’ picture. It emerges free of templates, models and prescriptions.
Once a big picture has emerged, quantitative techniques can be applied, for example in the form of
field surveys, on those topics identified by the stakeholders as important and on the questions that
have been posed and that have arisen in stage one. In this way, the inductive approach has at least
two steps and combines both subjective and objective techniques (mixed methods). Only in the final
analysis are the experiences and views of the researcher added to the interpretation of the emergent
picture to give further meaning and significance to any discernable patterns.
In this approach, less time is spent on assessing the detailed accuracy of measurement and more
on getting the general pattern of the story behind agrarian change. One is less concerned about
gathering evidence to support one’s theoretical hypotheses and more intent on recognizing ‘surprise’
and dealing with unfamiliar situations. What emerges are ‘narratives’ about agrarian change,
provided by the ‘actors’ involved, that reflect complexity, incidences of contestation, and a degree of
confusion and contradiction. The dynamic capacity of complex systems is such that one is never
finished as in a ‘final conclusion’ or end game, but that one is part of a narrative that is continuously
unfolding. Such research provides valuable glimpses of change, but not the whole picture (as one is
never absolutely certain what the whole picture would look like). One needs to be incrementally
satisfied with part-pictures, insights and clues as to what might reveal more in further research.
Farmers
Land Transfer
Tou r i s m
External
Capital
Government
RICE-FISH SYSTEM
Forests
Water Regime
Ter r a c es
Micro-Climate
Biodiversity
Co-operative
Local Varieties
Ecologcal Services
Outside
Laborers
?
?
Science &
Tec h n o l ogy
Village
?
?
Figure 3.
Conceptualized socio-ecological components of Qingtian rice-fish system (One way to enter
the system in Figure 3is to place the topic of major interest in the center. The subsystems that touch
the central topic are those most likely to affect and be affected by adjustments at the center. Outside
subsystems have indirect influence in that they closely interact with the subsystems near the center.
This would represent the researchers’ expectation of the connections in the system (size of subsystem
represents importance), which can be verified by research in the field and which allows surprises to be
noted (as indicated by symbol “?”). A three-dimensional diagram would make the complexity of these
connections more explicit.) Note: ? = unspecified sub-system.
3.2. Data Collection and Processing
The data collection technique of this paper was that of observation and questioning in an inductive
approach to enquiry. The overall framework of observation is adapted from complex systems thinking
which suggests that almost all sub-systems are joined together in various ways and influence each
other to certain degrees depending on the ‘change’ that is being brought about and studied [
43
].
The type and sequence of themes are informed by ‘appreciative enquiry’, a system for recognizing and
valuing the various assets that each situation has according to the question being posed or the change
being observed. The inductive nature of this approach ensures that no presumption of outcome is
given at the outset and that through observation and discussion a picture of the situation will emerge
that reflects the ‘lived’ reality as reported by locals, officials and experts. This may be referred to
as the ‘big’ picture. It emerges free of templates, models and prescriptions. Once a big picture has
emerged, quantitative techniques can be applied, for example in the form of field surveys, on those
topics identified by the stakeholders as important and on the questions that have been posed and that
have arisen in stage one. In this way, the inductive approach has at least two steps and combines both
subjective and objective techniques (mixed methods). Only in the final analysis are the experiences and
views of the researcher added to the interpretation of the emergent picture to give further meaning
and significance to any discernable patterns.
In this approach, less time is spent on assessing the detailed accuracy of measurement and
more on getting the general pattern of the story behind agrarian change. One is less concerned
about gathering evidence to support one’s theoretical hypotheses and more intent on recognizing
‘surprise’ and dealing with unfamiliar situations. What emerges are ‘narratives’ about agrarian change,
provided by the ‘actors’ involved, that reflect complexity, incidences of contestation, and a degree
of confusion and contradiction. The dynamic capacity of complex systems is such that one is never
finished as in a ‘final conclusion’ or end game, but that one is part of a narrative that is continuously
unfolding. Such research provides valuable glimpses of change, but not the whole picture (as one
is never absolutely certain what the whole picture would look like). One needs to be incrementally
satisfied with part-pictures, insights and clues as to what might reveal more in further research.
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 7 of 16
In terms of providing additional evidence for this paper, a field survey of Qingtian farmers
and officials was undertaken. The authors conducted seven field surveys between October 2013
and December 2014 to build a ‘big picture’ of the system in each village and then to focus on key
elements of the big picture in a direct enquiry. Each visit lasted from 3 to 7 days. Among 34 key
informants interviewed for the focused survey, 18 were local directors (4 women) and 16 were farmers
(6 women). The interview focused on local production and daily activities, including household
information, agricultural production in general and in busy seasons specifically, non-agricultural
occupations, perception of village changes, understanding of the GIAHS designation, and attitudes
towards agriculture development in the future. These questions were informed by the Sustainable
Livelihoods survey methodology. All contacts were approved through the Ministry of Agriculture and
interviewer/translators were provided to ensure that local idioms, language and customs were duly
observed and incorporated. Although the process was top down to begin with, it was supplemented by
several ‘informal’ contacts who emerged from the process and who were interviewed in the evenings
and weekends. In this way, several young people were included in the research and the average age
bias at the outset (average age of formal contacts was 48; the average age of all contacts was 38 years of
age) was reduced. As migrant youth are considered to be the main problem affecting the sustainability
of the rice-fish system, it was considered essential to include some youth in the discussions and survey.
4. Results
4.1. Longxian Village
At first glance, there are two core features of Longxian village: the village settlement and the
terraced fields maintained for rice-fish cultivation for many centuries by the villagers. The community
is nestled into the surrounding mountains and is the last village on the valley road in Fangshan
Township. In the past there was a high level of integration between village settlement and the rice
terraces (all households had rice fields) with many paths and alleys connecting the two. Today, only
50 out of 249 registered families—less than one third of the present residents (Table 1)—farm the land
and derive their basic livelihood from rice-fish cultivation.
Table 1. Farm land and labor in three case villages, Qingtian County, 2014.
Village Registered
Residents
Present
Residents *
Percentage of
People “out”
Arable Land in
Village (mu **)
Arable Land
Used (mu)
Percentage of
Abandoned Land
Longxian 869 300 65% 450 300 33%
Xiaozhoushan
1160 160 86% 700 540 23%
Renzhuang 4686 2325 50% 420 300 29%
Note: * Present residents means villagers who lived in the village for over 6 months in 2014; ** 1 mu = 1/15 ha.
Longxian was almost a closed system in the past. Today it is open at multiple levels. Each of the
levels represents an entry point into understanding the village system. Most of the households have
access to a car and there are several motorcycles in the village. A bus runs from Longxian to Qingtian
and back 10 times a day, at one-hour intervals seven days a week. Some people work in surrounding
township villages, others work regularly or occasionally in the countytown, some are farmers and
traders, some work in mining and construction and others in the tourism sector. However, more than
60% of the villagers work overseas and the loss of labor has led to one-third of the farmland in the
village being abandoned (Table 1).
Because of the GIAHS designation, Longxian is presented as a picture-perfect rice-fish terrace
system highly attractive for tourists today. On entering the village there is a small car park and the
official stone fish symbol of the Qingtian heritage site (Figure 4). The terraces are up on the hillside
on one flank of the village, and can be accessed by paths that traverse the terraces and turn into
a boardwalk and viewing platform (built with GIAHS funds) in the middle of the rice-fish terrace
landscape, ideal for observing the fish in the small contour-terraced fields and admiring the many
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 8 of 16
other plants grown as companion crops, such as taro, and dry paddy rotation crops such as sweet
potatoes. Azolla, a fern that lives and multiplies rapidly on the surface of the water in the terrace, is
good for creating shade and food for fish and provides an attractive water surface color which has
been captured in thousands of photographs by tourists. From the viewing platform all paths lead into
the village where there are three restaurants and a few small shops. Not many tourists actually visit
the terraces and sit in the viewing area; most are interested in tasting the fresh red carp meals in the
old style restaurants and taking home some of the dried fish.
Sustainability 2016, 8, 1260 8 of 16
potatoes. Azolla, a fern that lives and multiplies rapidly on the surface of the water in the terrace, is
good for creating shade and food for fish and provides an attractive water surface color which has
been captured in thousands of photographs by tourists. From the viewing platform all paths lead into
the village where there are three restaurants and a few small shops. Not many tourists actually visit
the terraces and sit in the viewing area; most are interested in tasting the fresh red carp meals in the
old style restaurants and taking home some of the dried fish.
Figure 4. Longxian Rice-Fish Terraces (provided by Qingtian Agriculture Bureau).
Due to the GIAHS designation, the Qingtian field-fish has become more famous than before, and
the price of the fish has increased considerably. Over the past ten years, the price of the field-fish
produced in Longxian increased from 30 yuan per kilogram to 120 yuan per kilogram, much higher
than the average price in the whole county. Today, the price of dried fish is astonishingly high,
reaching 400 yuan per kilogram in 2014. One family in the village, who were unable to go abroad in
the past due to economic limitations, now can earn almost 1 million yuan in a year by selling the fish
meals and the dried fish in the restaurant that they run by themselves. Fish are more valuable today
than rice. Almost all households, even those who do not farm the land any more, still keep the fish
tank next to their house or a 3 to 5 m section of a village stream for raising the red carp.
Taking into account the modest impact of tourism, the low engagement in traditional farming,
and the high geographical mobility of village residents, a surprising contradiction appears in the
assessment of the adaptation of village life. This is reflected in the village buildings. Most of the
houses in Longxian are 3 to 6 storey buildings, constructed or renovated in the past 10 years and in a
style reminiscent of Mediterranean Europe. They have flat roofs, pastel-colored stucco walls, marble
floor tiles and wrought-iron decorative railings around the balconies and along the stairways. These
tall buildings, separated by narrow alleys, form canyons in the village. Most buildings have iron grills
on the windows and are locked and empty. This is a different kind of ‘hollowed out’ village.
A GIAHS designation has not reduced the general situation of labor loss and land abandonment
in Longxian, although some overseas people have been attracted by the GIAHS brand to come back
from abroad and invest in the village. Accounting for the adaptation mode of Longxian village, one
is struck by the multiple streams of engagement with the outside world. Modernization is present in
most forms of village life, but is muted by the GIAHS effect which is to keep the village landscape
ancient and the village culture as traditional as possible. The present village leaders, all return
migrants and wealthy, wish to keep Longxian in traditional mode to enhance the historical assets as
a way to sustain tourism, fulfill the GIAHS mandate and bring prestigious visibility to their
community such that other overseas Chinese will return and invest in the betterment of their
Figure 4. Longxian Rice-Fish Terraces (provided by Qingtian Agriculture Bureau).
Due to the GIAHS designation, the Qingtian field-fish has become more famous than before, and
the price of the fish has increased considerably. Over the past ten years, the price of the field-fish
produced in Longxian increased from 30 yuan per kilogram to 120 yuan per kilogram, much higher
than the average price in the whole county. Today, the price of dried fish is astonishingly high, reaching
400 yuan per kilogram in 2014. One family in the village, who were unable to go abroad in the past
due to economic limitations, now can earn almost 1 million yuan in a year by selling the fish meals
and the dried fish in the restaurant that they run by themselves. Fish are more valuable today than
rice. Almost all households, even those who do not farm the land any more, still keep the fish tank
next to their house or a 3 to 5 m section of a village stream for raising the red carp.
Taking into account the modest impact of tourism, the low engagement in traditional farming,
and the high geographical mobility of village residents, a surprising contradiction appears in the
assessment of the adaptation of village life. This is reflected in the village buildings. Most of the houses
in Longxian are 3 to 6 storey buildings, constructed or renovated in the past 10 years and in a style
reminiscent of Mediterranean Europe. They have flat roofs, pastel-colored stucco walls, marble floor
tiles and wrought-iron decorative railings around the balconies and along the stairways. These tall
buildings, separated by narrow alleys, form canyons in the village. Most buildings have iron grills on
the windows and are locked and empty. This is a different kind of ‘hollowed out’ village.
A GIAHS designation has not reduced the general situation of labor loss and land abandonment
in Longxian, although some overseas people have been attracted by the GIAHS brand to come back
from abroad and invest in the village. Accounting for the adaptation mode of Longxian village, one is
struck by the multiple streams of engagement with the outside world. Modernization is present in
most forms of village life, but is muted by the GIAHS effect which is to keep the village landscape
ancient and the village culture as traditional as possible. The present village leaders, all return migrants
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 9 of 16
and wealthy, wish to keep Longxian in traditional mode to enhance the historical assets as a way to
sustain tourism, fulfill the GIAHS mandate and bring prestigious visibility to their community such
that other overseas Chinese will return and invest in the betterment of their hometowns. One project is
to build a road, at great cost, around and above the village to enable tourists to view and photograph
the rice-fish terraces from vantage points above the fields. Another overseas-inspired project is to
renovate a church which reflects the Roman Catholic traditions of Southern Europe and complements
the many Mediterranean style buildings in the village. Most surprisingly, the present leader renovated
the abandoned primary school and changed it into a GIAHS-theme restaurant using photos from
different GIAHS sites in China to decorate the rooms.This enables tourists to learn about other GIAHS
sites while tasting the fresh fish meals in the restaurant.
The loss of young farmers, as well as the increase in the price of labor, has made the rice-fish
system operate in a simple way. The local farmers only hire laborers to sow and harvest. They barely
use chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides during the production period, which makes the
rice-fish system a suitable production base for green food, highly favored by consumers. However,
ironically, egrets move faster than the consumers. Several years ago, egrets began to settle down in
the county, attracted by the non-chemical environment and the delicious field-fish. Now, egrets have
become a disaster for the local farmers because they eat small fish and peck out the eyes of the adult
fish, which has seriously damaged the fish yield and also the earnings of the farmers. (This information
was collected in conversion with farmers during the field surveys.)
In the village of Longxian, adaptations to the forces of modernization have taken economic and
cultural forms with the traditional rice-fish system representing its ‘face to the world’ and supporting
a manageable scale of tourism. The village of Longxian has re-organized itself within the framework
of the traditional Chinese village administrative system and with the logo of GIAHS has proudly
adopted an international seal of approval. In this sense, the village is ‘self-organizing’ in response to its
former poverty and to the opportunities, as perceived, in modernization. In this example, government
support for development is channeled through GIAHS administration (the Agriculture Bureau) and
the Tourism Bureau which, together with village leadership, may, over time, move the village closer to
a new reality; perhaps that of becoming a ‘living museum’.
4.2. Xiaozhoushan Village
Located high in the mountains in another part of Qingtian County, Xiaozhoushan also has newly
built and renovated houses in the Mediterranean style, but only a few. In this village, three quarters of
the old stone farmhouses are in poor repair with collapsed roofs and open walls. Most of them are
abandoned. As it is remote, Xiaozhoushan no longer has a school, but does have four restaurants and
is the seat of the township government. More than 22 people work in the local government, but none
of them live in the village.
Xiaozhoushan has a vast terraced landscape and once supported a large farming community.
As many people have left the area for non-farm work in neighboring provinces, especially Guangdong,
many farm fields (terraces) have been abandoned. Today some of these fields are being re-organized
into a group enterprise under cooperative arrangement with village labor and workers from
surrounding villages. A fundamental shift in land management is taking place.
Xiaozhoushan is re-inventing itself. It has chosen the tourism route to a re-structuring of village
livelihoods. Village leaders tried the idea of sowing auspicious Chinese characters and symbols into
the terraces with rapeseed plants near to the road to attract visitors in the Spring (Figure 5) As a result,
on weekends in April and May, more than 1000 cars are parked along the tiny road to the village so
that people can walk into the terraced fields along terrace-wall paths to see the patterns at first hand.
Although highly seasonal, this is a remarkable achievement and has encouraged the village leaders to
undertake the development of more attractions: summer symbols in the rice paddies, a hiking trail to
see several waterfalls, and the provision of overnight home-stays and a village hotel.
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 10 of 16
Sustainability 2016, 8, 1260 10 of 16
Figure 5. Auspicious design in rapeseed landscape in Xiaozhoushan (provided by Qingtian
Agriculture Bureau).
The essential feature of the tourism attraction, however, is the rice-fish terraces and their
continued use. It is important to note that the land assembly co-op is central. A retired village leader
who lives outside the community undertook, with government support, to assemble abandoned
fields in the village at the end of 2011 and hired labor from the village to farm the fields in a traditional
agro-ecological way to produce organic rice and fish. In 2012, a cooperative was formed to assist in
the assembly of more land and to obtain some government financial support. By now the farming
enterprise was large enough that labor from outside Xiaozhoushan was recruited from surrounding
villages. Villagers now have the possibility of working their own traditional fields, working on the
auspicious shapes for the township, and/or working for the co-op and the ex-village leader turned
entrepreneur. Ironically, with all these choices for farm labor, there are only approximately 160
people resident in the village (Table 1), most of whom are over the age of 55. Clearly there is a serious
farm labor shortage in Xiaozhoushan.
The GIAHS designation for Qingtian County has a different scale of benefit in Xiaozhoushan.
The GIAHS logo is visible on the organic rice packets produced by the co-op and has become a
prestigious label for marketing. Although some village signs for tourism make reference to the
GIAHS, they are not prominent or well understood. Tourism here is a product of the village
government and has little to do with GIAHS or the County Tourism Bureau. The high price of red
carp here is the same as that in Longxian and is thought to be mostly due to the GIAHS designation
on the labeling.
At this point (2014), capital and influence from ‘outside’ have not been a major factor in
Xiaozhoushan. There are a few new and renovated houses and a refurbished hotel, but no central
cultural influence other than the two churches in a village of 160 people. Perhaps this is because most
of the migrants went to Guangdong Province in S.E China and not overseas.
Although there is a sense of ‘too little-too late’ in Xiaozhoushan, there is also growing evidence
of an endogenous adaptation process taking place which also contains a strong ‘self-organizing’
element.
4.3. Renzhuang Village
Renzhuang is a progressive community with big rural settlements, large flat rice fields formed
in squares, an agricultural experiment station, a fish hatchery and a regular bus to the county town.
It differs notably from Longxian and Xiaozhoushan.
Figure 5.
Auspicious design in rapeseed landscape in Xiaozhoushan (provided by Qingtian
Agriculture Bureau).
The essential feature of the tourism attraction, however, is the rice-fish terraces and their continued
use. It is important to note that the land assembly co-op is central. A retired village leader who
lives outside the community undertook, with government support, to assemble abandoned fields
in the village at the end of 2011 and hired labor from the village to farm the fields in a traditional
agro-ecological way to produce organic rice and fish. In 2012, a cooperative was formed to assist in
the assembly of more land and to obtain some government financial support. By now the farming
enterprise was large enough that labor from outside Xiaozhoushan was recruited from surrounding
villages. Villagers now have the possibility of working their own traditional fields, working on the
auspicious shapes for the township, and/or working for the co-op and the ex-village leader turned
entrepreneur. Ironically, with all these choices for farm labor, there are only approximately 160 people
resident in the village (Table 1), most of whom are over the age of 55. Clearly there is a serious farm
labor shortage in Xiaozhoushan.
The GIAHS designation for Qingtian County has a different scale of benefit in Xiaozhoushan.
The GIAHS logo is visible on the organic rice packets produced by the co-op and has become a
prestigious label for marketing. Although some village signs for tourism make reference to the GIAHS,
they are not prominent or well understood. Tourism here is a product of the village government and
has little to do with GIAHS or the County Tourism Bureau. The high price of red carp here is the same
as that in Longxian and is thought to be mostly due to the GIAHS designation on the labeling.
At this point (2014), capital and influence from ‘outside’ have not been a major factor in
Xiaozhoushan. There are a few new and renovated houses and a refurbished hotel, but no central
cultural influence other than the two churches in a village of 160 people. Perhaps this is because most
of the migrants went to Guangdong Province in S.E China and not overseas.
Although there is a sense of ‘too little-too late’ in Xiaozhoushan, there is also growing evidence of
an endogenous adaptation process taking place which also contains a strong ‘self-organizing’ element.
4.3. Renzhuang Village
Renzhuang is a progressive community with big rural settlements, large flat rice fields formed
in squares, an agricultural experiment station, a fish hatchery and a regular bus to the county town.
It differs notably from Longxian and Xiaozhoushan.
In response to the GIAHS designation, Renzhuang has taken on the ‘technological development’
role in rice-fish cultivation in the agricultural economy. There are many experimental fields in the area
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 11 of 16
where new ways to improve rice-fish cultivation techniques are being tested, often by local farmers
(Figure 6). This effort is being spearheaded by the Agriculture Bureau and researchers from Zhejiang
University who are looking at integrated pest management methods, new companion crops and edible
animal species in the rice paddies, and improved rice seed selection. This represents a fusion of science
and the traditional knowledge systems in rice-fish cultivation. In effect this approach most clearly
embraces modernization.
Sustainability 2016, 8, 1260 11 of 16
In response to the GIAHS designation, Renzhuang has taken on the ‘technological development’
role in rice-fish cultivation in the agricultural economy. There are many experimental fields in the
area where new ways to improve rice-fish cultivation techniques are being tested, often by local
farmers (Figure 6). This effort is being spearheaded by the Agriculture Bureau and researchers from
Zhejiang University who are looking at integrated pest management methods, new companion crops
and edible animal species in the rice paddies, and improved rice seed selection. This represents a
fusion of science and the traditional knowledge systems in rice-fish cultivation. In effect this approach
most clearly embraces modernization.
In one area, a variety of Japanese soft-back turtle has been introduced, with the co-operation of
farmers, into large-scale experimental rice paddies. In another, a rice-seed drying plant has been
established with government funds to help improve seed selection and rice plant propagation and
ultimately to increase crop production.
Figure 6. Rice-fish experimental field in Renzhuang (provided by Qingtian Agriculture Bureau).
The whole of the Renzhuang area is populated by new houses, many in the European style, and
renovated homes for local people who no longer work in the agricultural sector. The area buzzes with
everyday activity, most of which reflects modernization in China in its rural forms. There are clothing
stores in Renzhuang as well as farm supply stores; there are hairdressers as well as restaurants and
convenience stores for locals. Few of these retail services appear in Longxian or Xiaozhoushan.
Renzhuang is not ‘hollowed out’ and has a vibrant population mix, although still dominated by older
people.
The f orm of adaptation here is that o f dev eloping and enhancing ‘the product’, the product being
the rice-fish tradition of the agricultural economy. The GIAHS is not visibly a major feature in
Renzhuang, although the commitment of the county government to the GIAHS idea is expressed in
agricultural scientific development and concomitant investments in infrastructure for ecological
experimentation. In general, it brings eco-agriculture to the forefront of official agricultural
development in Qingtian County.
5. Discussion
It is clear that Qingtian County’s being designated a GIAHS site has elicited, over time, different
responses from the three settlements under review.The central purpose of the GIAHS designation is
to sustain the rice-fish system of terrace farming to demonstrate the benefits of ecological agriculture
in the hilly and mountainous environments of southern China. Promoted under the concept of
‘adaptive management’, the county has shown strong support for GIAHS, but in a typically scientific
and agricultural development manner. A second strand of support has been through tourism
Figure 6. Rice-fish experimental field in Renzhuang (provided by Qingtian Agriculture Bureau).
In one area, a variety of Japanese soft-back turtle has been introduced, with the co-operation
of farmers, into large-scale experimental rice paddies. In another, a rice-seed drying plant has been
established with government funds to help improve seed selection and rice plant propagation and
ultimately to increase crop production.
The whole of the Renzhuang area is populated by new houses, many in the European style, and
renovated homes for local people who no longer work in the agricultural sector. The area buzzes
with everyday activity, most of which reflects modernization in China in its rural forms. There are
clothing stores in Renzhuang as well as farm supply stores; there are hairdressers as well as restaurants
and convenience stores for locals. Few of these retail services appear in Longxian or Xiaozhoushan.
Renzhuang is not ‘hollowed out’ and has a vibrant population mix, although still dominated by
older people.
The form of adaptation here is that of developing and enhancing ‘the product’, the product
being the rice-fish tradition of the agricultural economy. The GIAHS is not visibly a major
feature in Renzhuang, although the commitment of the county government to the GIAHS idea is
expressed in agricultural scientific development and concomitant investments in infrastructure for
ecological experimentation. In general, it brings eco-agriculture to the forefront of official agricultural
development in Qingtian County.
5. Discussion
It is clear that Qingtian County’s being designated a GIAHS site has elicited, over time, different
responses from the three settlements under review.The central purpose of the GIAHS designation is to
sustain the rice-fish system of terrace farming to demonstrate the benefits of ecological agriculture in
the hilly and mountainous environments of southern China. Promoted under the concept of ‘adaptive
management’, the county has shown strong support for GIAHS, but in a typically scientific and
agricultural development manner. A second strand of support has been through tourism development
but, overall, this is much less prominent in terms of budget and effort. Importantly, the three villages
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 12 of 16
studied all show that rice-fish production is the central component of their farming system, and to this
point have found both overlapping and different ways to accomplish this GIAHS goal. This illustrates
the flexibility of adaptation in Chinese agrarian change.
In terms of the bigger picture, these diverse responses reflect village adaptation strategies to global
restructuring. All three villages are connected in different ways to international markets: for labor,
for goods, for capital and, in the case of GIAHS, for ideas about heritage conservation. There seems
to be a relatively free flow of people, capital, innovations and cultural transfer between international
markets and remote villages in mountainous regions of South China. These connections are not under
the auspices of grand ‘development’ schemes, international agencies and multi-lateral programs and
the like, but are self organized by families and communities at the local level on a seemingly ad hoc
basis. These flows represent effective self-organizing responses to global economic restructuring.
The following diagrams (Figure 7), based on observations and key informant discussions, attempt
to illustrate the centrality of rice-fish farming, but sustained by very different constellations of supports
(represented by circles) with widely varying degrees of influence (size of circle) (The representation of
the interdependence of sub-systems in Complex Adaptive Systems theory is that of subsystems, here
depicted as circles. A visual representation of subsystems in the typical GIAHS system is shown in
Fuller et al. [43]) in the three villages.
Sustainability 2016, 8, 1260 12 of 16
development but, overall, this is much less prominent in terms of budget and effort. Importantly, the
three villages studied all show that rice-fish production is the central component of their farming
system, and to this point have found both overlapping and different ways to accomplish this GIAHS
goal. This illustrates the flexibility of adaptation in Chinese agrarian change.
In terms of the bigger picture, these diverse responses reflect village adaptation strategies to
global restructuring. All three villages are connected in different ways to international markets: for
labor, for goods, for capital and, in the case of GIAHS, for ideas about heritage conservation. There
seems to be a relatively free flow of people, capital, innovations and cultural transfer between
international markets and remote villages in mountainous regions of South China. These connections
are not under the auspices of grand ‘development’ schemes, international agencies and multi-lateral
programs and the like, but are self organized by families and communities at the local level on a
seemingly ad hoc basis. These flows represent effective self-organizing responses to global economic
restructuring.
The following diagrams (Figure 7), based on observations and key informant discussions,
attempt to illustrate the centrality of rice-fish farming, but sustained by very different constellations
of supports (represented by circles) with widely varying degrees of influence (size of circle) (The
representation of the interdependence of sub-systems in Complex Adaptive Systems theory is that of
subsystems, here depicted as circles. A visual representation of subsystems in the typical GIAHS
system is shown in Fuller et al. [43]) in the three villages.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 7. Diagrammatic representation of the rice-fish support systems in three villages of Qingtian
County. (a) Longxian; (b) Xiaozhoushan; (c) Renzhuang.
Figure 7.
Diagrammatic representation of the rice-fish support systems in three villages of Qingtian
County. (a) Longxian; (b) Xiaozhoushan; (c) Renzhuang.
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 13 of 16
In Longxian village, the factors affecting the rice-fish farming system are well balanced between
government supports for GIAHS, channeled mainly through tourism infrastructure and agricultural
advisory services, and a large amount of external (private) capital. The village system is dominated
by this outside capital and related demographics. Farming itself is a small subsystem. Note that in
Figure 7a, the farming system is termed fish-rice system to reflect the restructured relationship between
rice and fish. The surprise here is the influence of outside capital and the many connections to overseas
culture and ideas.
In Xiaozhoushan, the rice-fish system is sustained by an ongoing reorganization of land
management under both cooperative and private enterprise efforts. The local government is the
prime mover in ‘inventing’ a major tourism attraction (auspicious shapes in the rapeseed and rice
fields) and is using modern techniques (GPS and laser designs as well as online promotions) to develop
this comparative advantage further. The surprise here is the need for farm labor to come from outside
the village, even from as far away as Guizhou Province.
The Renzhuang set of system influences is heavily skewed towards scientific and technical support
for improving the sustainability and the productivity of the rice-fish farming system. The remaining
actors and activities in Renzhuang area are what one normally sees in a rural system adjacent to a
city, indicated in the diagram as ‘normal’ functions of a relatively balanced rural life with population,
employment and functional diversity. There are no surprises here other than the amount of scientific
support for an ancient agro-ecological farming system.
6. Conclusions
It is evident that rural China is undergoing rapid and profound forms of change and that these
are either self-induced as responses to external forces of change or are imposed as institutional forms
of restructuring or planned change. Applying observation and interviews with a wide range of actors,
not only does this study discover the socio-ecological adaptation features of Qingtian rice-fish system,
it also produces many interesting questions for the debate on agrarian change in China.
From this research, the first observation is that heterogeneity of response is far more common
than expected in a State in which centrally planned development has been the norm. It is evident that
‘centrally planned’ can mean tate, province or county level planning, but in effect the administrative
village is also effective in forming its own restructuring response within the county administrative
framework. The three village representations in Figure 7demonstrate, by their distinctive differences
of shape, the variations in response to maintaining traditional rice-fish farming landscapes in Qingtian
County. These diverse responses also include some common elements such as strong government
support and the development of tourism. Secondly, in an era of modernization, welcomed by most rural
Chinese, the mobility of labor is a striking factor and has diverse consequences for the reorganization
of rural farming systems. Evidence from the three sites studied here shows that rural areas have
moved from having “surplus labor” to having a “labor shortage” in two decades or in one generation.
In all three villages there is a local labor problem and farmers from other regions are being recruited
for work on the land in Qingtian County. In the chain process of labor movement and land transfer,
self-employed farmers have become farm workers. The third observation, which in fact accompanies
this trend, is that of land assembly. As upland terraces are difficult to cultivate and maintain, being
far from the village, high in the mountain reaches, and hard to access for carrying farm implements
and recovering the harvests, they have been abandoned by farm families that have long ago left for
non-farm work elsewhere. At first these high terraced fields may be left for neighbors to cultivate or
watch over in a form of usufruct, but eventually they are completely abandoned. Today, a remaining
farmer has a wide choice of which village fields to cultivate, how many, and for what purpose.
Sustaining the fields farmed in an ecological way with economic returns to labor and/or capital
has become an important goal of local and County level governments. Three villages in Qingtian
County have adapted differently to the challenges brought by modernization in maintaining their
traditional systems. Consequently, the rice-fish system remains and is the core component of tourism
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 14 of 16
attractions, for marketing local products, sustaining a range of eco-services including bio-diversity,
and maintaining a local culture. These objectives and their outcomes are almost exactly those of the
GIAHS program.
What, then, has the GIAHS achieved in Qingtian County? A 10-year evaluation will potentially
answer this question more fully, but it is clear that a GIAHS designation does not imply a template or
single model of what to do to achieve sustainability in a heritage system. There are many different ways
to achieve decent livelihoods and to maintain landscapes with ecological integrity. These mechanisms
allow for flexibility in the response to modernization, manifest as land and labor mobility, and as well
provide a bulwark against the increasing loss of environmental quality. Even abandoning terraces
may not be a bad outcome at this point in time, as high mountain terraced land can be left fallow to
recover its natural fertility and/or be planted with low maintenance trees for greater erosion control
and environmental sustainability. As with all complex systems, it depends on how one looks at it and
from which entry point one makes the first steps of enquiry.
As this paper shows, looking at the GIAHS rice-fish areas from a whole systems viewpoint helps
to elucidate more about complex systems in relation to ancient agricultural heritage sites faced with the
predations and temptations of modernization and to formulate more pertinent questions for further
research. By examining multiple views of the same situation, the complexity of agrarian systems can be
taken seriously and surprises and confusions noted. These can become the starting points for further
research on responses to capital-led farming change in China and elsewhere. The potential of land
assembly will certainly lead to more dramatic changes in the agricultural systems of lowland China.
What forms of restructuring will occur in the mountain areas, however, remains a more open question.
While, as has been shown, rice-fish systems in terraced landscapes are clearly a sound ecological use
of land, they are drastically threatened by a loss of labor and the indigenous knowledge that derives
from on-site familiarity and practice.
The insights gained from an inductive approach to tracking and interpreting agrarian change and
sustainability are manifold, as demonstrated by this simple use of complexity thinking and analysis.
This paper has not been an exercise in measurement as in objective science, but an exploration of
farming systems in a general sense designed as a way to get a bigger picture of resilience in a complex
system and to be more sure that we are asking the right questions for future research. Of primary
importance is the new found ability to add to the ‘official’ narrative, and to accept surprise as a
technique in developing new insights and making improbable discoveries. Two new churches in a
village of just over 100 people, in a country with no official religion, raises many interesting questions.
New houses of alien styles and functions beg questions of cultural renewal and future directions of
social change. To what extent will capital penetration into upland farming systems go before new
forms of resilience and resistance occur? Employing elements of complex systems thinking and the
language of resilience and adaptation in a social systems context opens more questions for future
research. Such questions will also have implications for environmental impact. No subsystems
operate independently. Importantly, these questions are not derived from linear thinking or path
dependency, but from uncertainty and contradiction. If the persistence of rice-fish farming is normal,
is the modernizing context in which the farming system is embedded a new normal? What we need
now are more penetrating techniques to follow these questions and learn more about resilience and
the sustaining of such systems into the future.
Acknowledgments:
This research was financially supported by the Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program
by CAST (2015QNRC001), the Research Foundation for Youth Scholars of Institute of Geographic Sciences
and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Visiting
Professor-Ship for Senior International Scientists (2013T2Z0011). We would like to express our thanks to Lise
Gunby for technical editing.
Author Contributions:
Anthony M. Fuller and Qingwen Min conceived and designed the research;
Anthony M. Fuller
and Minfang Wu designed the field survey and collected the data; Wenjun Jiao and Siyuan Xu
analyzed the data; Wenjun Jiao and Anthony M. Fuller wrote the paper.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Sustainability 2016,8, 1260 15 of 16
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