THE SPREAD OF AGRICULTURE IN CHINA

At pressent, China has about 100 million ha of farmland and 1.1 billion inhabitants, of which, about 80% are still engaged in agriculture. In geographical distribution, primitive shifting cultivation was at first mainly scattered in small patches in Eastern Monsoon China, especially concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Huanghe (Yellow) River and the Changjiang (Yangtze) River. The ratio of agriculture to industry in production value changed from 7:3 in the early 1950s to 3:7 in the middle 1980s. Agricultural Regionalization is based upon agricultural development as well as physical regionalization in China. Seven first-level agricultural regions might be identified.