An investigation of the potential for rural progress of the Asian village, especially in monsoonal and equatorial areas. Contents include distinctions and relations between rural and urban, origin and evolution of ecosystems involving rural man, location and morphology of villages, social and agrarian patterns, the sociology of labour, land use, rural water use, nutrition, health, child-rearing and rural evolution at present. With 20 diagrams.

Within the overall scope of a long term study being conducted at the Institute on rural development, an advance summary is provided of the salient factors governing women's lives in the family and their role in production in monsoonal and equatorial Asia. Reasons are suggested for major differences in the status of women in Southeast Asia as compared with those of South and East Asia. Cultural factors influencing female education, size of family, activities in production and earning ability are discussed. Actions necessary to meet the most pressing current and future needs of rural women are indicated.

This study looks at the social and economic status, family and workforce roles, and quality of life of women in the rural sectors of monsoonal and equatorial Asia, from Pakistan to Japan, where life often is characterized by unemployment, underemployment, and poverty.

The Straits Chinese (otherwise known as Babas or Peranakans) represent a unique blend of Chinese and Malay cultural traits and yet are quite distinct from both these two source cultures. Many rose to the positions of political and social prominence under British rule. The nature of this cultural and political accommodation and its dynamics provide an ideal ethnographic base for an exploration of ethnicity in Southeast Asia. This paper examines the nature of their identity and culture, the changes in the nature of the group and internal and external criteria for identification. The thesis is that the emergence of the Baba community is due to a combination of social and political factors, including the nurturing of a group willing to distinguish themselves from other Chinese migrants by learning English and acting as social and political brokers between the government and the population. Their position becomes ambiguous after 1942, with the decline of British influence. The writer's argument is that the outcome of this situation is not to be explained by factors of choice or perception but by structural factors. The paper concludes with an examination of these structural factors (including processes of accommodation, assimilation, and resignification) which have their roots in the colonial past of the area in the present management of ethnicity in Malaysia and Singapore.

At the turn of the millennium, the disparities between rural and urban livelihoods, underdevelopment and administrative shortcomings in the Chinese countryside were increasingly seen as posing a manifest threat to social harmony and economic and political stability. At that time the term "three rural problems" (sannong wenti) was coined which defined the main issues of rural life that needed to be targeted by government action: agriculture (nongye), villages (nongcun) and farmers (nongmin). In turn, with the launch of the 11th Five-Year Plan in 2006, a pledge was made to shift the focus of developmental efforts to the long-neglected countryside, which is still home to half of the Chinese population. This book presents an analysis of adaptive local policy implementation in China in the context of the "Building of a New Socialist Countryside" (BNSC) policy framework. Based on intensive field work in four counties in Fujian, Jiangxi, Shaanxi and Zhejiang Provinces between 2008 and 2011, it offers detailed analyses of the form and impact of county governments’ strategic agency at certain stages and within certain fields of the implementation process (for example, the design of local BNSC programs, the steering of project funding, implementation and evaluation, the establishment of model villages and the management of public participation). Further, this study illustrates that BNSC is far more than the ‘empty slogan’ described by many observers when it was launched in 2005/2006. Instead, it has already brought about considerable shifts in terms of the process and outcomes of rural policy implementation. Altogether, the results of this research challenge existing paradigms by showing how, against the background of contemporary approaches to rural development and recent reforms initiated by the central state, local bureaucracies’ strategic agency can actually push forward effective – albeit not necessarily optimal – policy implementation to some extent, which serves the interests of central authorities, local implementors and rural residents. By tying into the larger debates on China's state capacity and authoritarian adaptability, this book enriches our understanding of the inner workings of the Chinese political system. As such, it will prove invaluable to students and scholars of Chinese politics, public policy and development studies more generally.

Sustainable development is the core principle underpinning land use planning. The policies in this statement apply to the rural areas, including country towns and villages and the wider, largely undeveloped countryside up to the fringes of larger urban areas. The key principles identified are: (i) decisions on development should be based on sustainable development principles; (ii) good quality accessible development within towns and villages should be allowed where it benefits the local community; (iii) accessibility should be a key consideration, with emphasis on access by public transport, walking and cycling; (iv) new building in the open countryside away from existing settlements should be strictly controlled; (v) priority should be given to the reuse of brownfield sites. This PPS replaces PPG 7 (1997) with the exception of PPG7's Annex E, which provides further guidance on permitted development rights for agriculture and forestry and will remain extant pending a review by ODPM of the General Permitted Development Order 1995.