0300 - Yantal Prospers Through Rural Commodity Production. With the rapid d...Front

Yantal Prospers Through Rural Commodity Production. With the rapid development of commodity production in the rural areas in Yantai prefecture, Shandong Province, in recent years, the peasants there are getting richer and richer. Their annual per capita income has increased from 240 yuan (RMB) in 1980 to 500 yuan in 1984. Yantai has been one of the pace setters in the economic reform in the country. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Bay, Yantai comprises 15 counties and municipalities and over 1,000 villages with a rural population of more than 7 million. Since 1981, the peasants there have set up a total of 70,000 enterprises in the townships. Their total output value in 1984 reached 3,000,000,000 yuan. 90 per cent of farming, aquatic breeding, fruit growing and sea fishery have been contracted to specialized households or collective units. The commodity rate of these trades has risen from 32 per cent in 1970s to 76 per cent today. Profound changes have taken place not only in the mode of production but also in the peasants lifestyle.