China's small-scale peasant economy has a long history. How did it disintegrate step by step?

Small-scale peasant economy refers to the self-sufficient small-scale agricultural economy with the family as the unit. The small-scale peasant economy in China has a long history, which can be directly traced back to the yeoman economy in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The biggest feature of the small-scale peasant economy is that it grows on its own land and then feeds itself. It is not for the purpose of selling money for profit. Simply put, it is self-sufficient and cultivated by men and women together. During the feudal autocratic rule, the small-scale peasant economy was the dominant economy in China. Because the mobility of businessmen is too strong, it is not conducive to stabilizing the rule of the regime and maintaining taxes. Therefore, what was the main economic policy pursued by the feudal rulers in China? Emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business? Strike a blow to the development of commodity economy and stabilize agricultural production and operation. This is the historical reason why the peasant class in China is strong.

The disintegration of small-scale peasant economy is generally consistent with the modernization process in China. 1840, because of the primitive accumulation of internal capitalism, Britain wanted China's market, but it was resisted by the closed-door policy. Later, after the Opium War forced China to open its trading ports, it was found that China's self-sufficient economy hindered Britain's capital accumulation. Therefore, the cheap goods produced by Britain with its own machines stimulated the commercialization of agricultural products at that time and promoted the separation of agriculture and textile in China's natural economy. At this time, the traditional cottage industry suffered a huge impact and went bankrupt, and the small-scale peasant economy in China began to disintegrate.

Later, China gradually became a market for dumped goods and a supplier of raw materials in capitalist countries, and China was forced to be involved in the world market, which also accelerated the disintegration of the small-scale peasant economy. At the same time, due to the opening of government policies and the stimulation of foreign investment, a large number of entrepreneurs emerged in China at that time, and a large number of workers were recruited from rural areas as labor. A large number of rural population flowed from rural areas to cities, and the rural labor force decreased, which also promoted the disintegration of the small-scale peasant economy at that time.

However, although the small-scale peasant economy gradually disintegrated, it was not completely eliminated. However, under the socialist market economy system, it is really impossible to maintain a complete small-scale peasant economy and achieve self-sufficiency. Small-scale peasant economy has the shortcomings of low output and low efficiency, so it cannot be the trend of future development.