Social Connectedness in Marginal Rural China 277mainly because of poor quality farmland, cultivation on steep slopes and the low
use of external production factors (e.g. fertilizers, farm machinery).
Zhidan County can be divided into four main regions. Generally, the north is
high in elevation (1300–1741m), with extensive gullies and poor vegetation. In
the south, altitude (1093–1680m) and population density are lower, with dense
woodland cover. Between them, middle Zhidan is relatively gentle in topography,
with dense population and good agricultural facilities. The eastern part is the
county’s political and economic centre with good transport, an emerging local oil
industry and expanding urban markets. By contrast, the western part shares similar
agricultural resource conditions but has few non-farm economic opportunities.
One township in each of the north, west and east regions was selected for investi-
gation. The south was not sampled for two reasons – it is part of a national forest
zone in the Loess Plateau, with a quite different landscape from the rest of Zhidan,
and a state-owned company manages forestry and grazing resources.
Table 15.2 gives the secondary data for the three selected townships. Zhidan is
heterogeneous in terms of resource endowment and development opportunities.
Among three sample townships, for instance, the length of road in Zhonghe is
longer than the sum of other two townships, indicating an uneven distribution of
rural infrastructure. Whilst the average value of Zhidan’s rural net income was
close to the provincial average, Zhifang, the poorest township of Zhidan, has only
two-thirds of the county’s average. It is not surprising that according to the Zhidan
Poverty Reduction Office, the majority of the rural poor in Zhidan are concen-
trated in its north and west zones, and in particular these remote and high-moun-
tain villages are characterized by long distances to main roads and markets, poor
vehicle access and a high rate of inattendance at school. Unlike other ‘poor areas’
in Shaanxi, grain shortages are not significant for Zhidan at the aggregate level.
The field survey consisted of three elements: participatory observation and
village comparison, household questionnaire survey, and mini case studies. All
administrative villages in each sampled township were divided into three groups
according to rural net income in the previous year, and one of each group was
selected as a sample administrative village. All sub-villages (or natural village or
Table 15.2 Comparison of selected townships in Zhidan County (1995)Indicator/Township Zhouhe Zhifang Jindin County
Location East North West –
% of county’s land 6.3 7.0 10.4 100
Road length (km) 135 39 89 nd
No. households 1736 1277 2386 20,474
No. population 8455 6656 12,518 100,698
Net income (yuan/person) 1300 480 760 804
Grain production (kg/person) 465 311 395 393Sources: Zhidan Planning and Statistical Office (1996), Zhidan Agricultural Survey Office