清至民国时期广西“惰农”考

Study on the“Lazy Peasants”in Guangxi during Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China Era

历史时期广西“惰农”比较常见,相比其他地方,持续时间更长,出现频率更高,影响也更为深远,即使到了传统农业发展高峰、人地关系紧张的清至民国时期,依然如此。而清至民国时期广西却经常出现粮食短缺,这与“惰农”现象似乎是一个悖论。“惰农”表现方式较为多样:不种双季稻、一年一熟、耕作粗放、不讲求水利、不事多种经营、不知积贮,六大特征在广西具有普遍性,又是广西之于全国的独特性。究其根源,在于环境决定技术选择,资源禀赋的差异必有与之相应的种植制度和耕作方式。此一时期,广西的人口压力并没有“看起来”那么严峻,且区域内部差异明显,桂西北广大岩溶地区人均自然资源较为优越但开发不足。由于新作物玉米和番薯推广、灌溉艰难、投入产出比等原因,农民没有通过精耕细作以劳动力补土地之不足,而是通过掠夺式开发或广种薄收取得相对效益。“过密化”理论强调的边际收益递减并不适合广西尤其是岩溶地区,广西的经济方式呈现的是“斯密型增长”。我们对待“惰农”应抱有“了解之同情”的态度。

In history,the“lazy peasant”phenomenon in Guangxi were relatively common,and existed for long duration,with higher frequency and more profound influence,even until the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China era when the traditional agricultural development was at its booming climax with existence of tension between people and land.From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China era,Guangxi often suffered from food shortage,which seemed to be a paradox with the phenomenon of“lazy peasants”,but the records of“lazy pheasants”were prevalent and found everywhere.There are various manifestations of“lazy peasants”:not planting double harvest rice,harvesting only one time a year,not conducting intensive farming,not paying attention on irrigation and water conservancy,not conducting other businesses,not being aware of storage.The six characteristics are commonly existed in Guangxi,while it is the uniqueness of Guangxi to the whole country.The root cause is that the environment determines the technology choice,and the difference of resource endowment must correlate to responding planting system and farming method.During this period,the population pressure in Guangxi was not as severe as it“seemed”to be,and the inter-regional differences were obvious.The per capita natural resources in the vast karst areas in northwest Guangxi were relatively superior but underdeveloped.Due to reasons including the promotion of new corn crop and sweet potato,difficult irrigation,and input-output ratio,farmers did not supplement the shortage of land through intensive farming,but achieved relative benefits through predatory development or extensive planting for meager harvest.The diminishing marginal return emphasized by“Involution Theory”is not suitable for Guangxi,especially its karst areas.Guangxi’s economic mode presents the“Smithian Growth”.We should treat the“lazy peasants with a sympathy with a good understanding”attitude.