What Are The Similarities Between China And France Peasant Behavior

In China and France peasant behavior was marked by a tendency over time that caused them to behave in ways that maximized their economic potential. In each country unique behavior was developed due to the different conditions within those separate regions. France’s peasantry ended up reacting in more dynamic ways to economic reality when compared to their Chinese counterparts and their peasantry experienced a greater transition to a higher economic base. Yet, similarities can be noted in both countries, in particular the raising of supplementary crops and diversifying away from a monoculture. Each country had a trend where a primary crop would be later be supplemented, rotated, or replaced with a more valuable crop as the market demand changed. In China cotton was the source of this new income. Peasant families originally grew rice as monoculture, but diversified into sorghum and mulberries. In an attempt to increase productivity the entire family, including women, children, and elders, were used as labor. This kept labor costs very low within the family unit, but at the same time this made large scale farming that utilized hired help unprofitable. In France, land owners had a larger role in determining what was grown by their peasants on their leased property. In China the
Trade between the Chinese countryside and Chinese cities took place on a much smaller scale when compared to the trade that happened in France. In China peasants were more used to trading within their community and using their agricultural products for subsistence. Chinese cities also did not develop a manufacturing base as they did in France, nor did animal husbandry exist in China to the same extent that it did in Europe. French peasants began to use cattle, oxen, and other heavy mammals, but the Chinese used animal husbandry for smaller animals less adopted for agricultural purposes, such as fowl, chickens, and