Xinbu—"the Beginning of a New Approach To Development"
| Published date | 01 October 1982 |
| Author | John Madeley |
| Date | 01 October 1982 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711788200700405 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
2220
XINBU—"THE
BEGINNING
OF
A
NEW
APPROACH
TO
DEVELOPMENT"
JOHN
MADELEY
OUR
ancestors
would
perhaps
have
smiled
at
a
sentence
in
a
recent
addition
of an
influential
United
Nations
newspaper
&dquo;Development
Forum&dquo;,
which
read,
&dquo;it
has
always
been
the
dream
of
scientists
and
development
planners
to
create
the
self-sufficient
rural
society,
producing
virtually
all
its
material
needs
and
enough
to
sell
or
barter
for
the
remaining
essential
supplies
that
must
come
from
outside&dquo;.
The
article
was
describing
a
system
that
has
been
developed
at
a
Chinese
village
called
Xinbu,
which
it
is
claimed
is,
&dquo;apparently
the
only
one
which
is
actually
a
living
evolving
system
supporting
the
lives
and
livelihoods
of
as
many
as
89
families&dquo;.
Yet
before
the
onset
of the
industrial
revolution,
self-sufficient
rural
societies
were
in
a
sense
the
norm.
A
village
community
had
to
be
self-sufficient
in
order
to
survive.
Their
own
resources
had
to
be
enough
for
them-even
if
those
resources
were
often
grossly
inadequate
to
meet
the
needs
of
everyone,
especially
the
poorest.
But
no
village
could
rely
on
a
neighbouring
village,
or
on
the
state
as
a
whole,
to
top
up
the
goods
and
services
that
it
produced.
In
the
West
things
have
now
changed,
but
they
remain
the
same
for
many
isolated
Third
World
villages.
There
are
villages
in
the
hilly
regions
of
Nepal,
for
example,
that
are
almost
totally
cut
off
from
the
outside
world;
outsiders
can
only
reach
them
with
over
2
weeks
hard
walking.
Either
the
people
of
those
villages
maintain
something
of
a
self-sufficient
society,
and
carefully
steward
the
often
meagre
resources
they
have,
or
they
perish.
For
again,
their
own
resources
have
to
be
sufficient-even
if
for
many
they
are
grossly
insufficient.
In
the
West,
the
concept
of
self-sufficiency
has
become
blurred.
All
kinds
of
economic
theories,
division
of
labour
practices,
overseas
trade,
taxes,
subsidies,
borrowing,
printing
money
etc.,
etc.,
have
obscured
the
notion of
societies
not
taking
out
any
more
than
they
are
putting
in.
Standards
of
living
are
generally
high,
but
an
individual
is
often
at
the
mercy
of
factors
outside
his
own
control.
Even
in
the
Third
World,
the
isolated
village
is
an
exception.
Most
villages
have
contact
with
outsiders
and
are
part
of
a
gleam
in
the
eye
of
a
development
planner
somewhere.
The
villagers
pay
taxes,
and
receive
government
services;
maybe
they
are
effectively
subsidised
through
the
economic
system,
or
perhaps
they
are
subsidising
others.
Scientists
are
right
to
dream
of
a
society
in
which
everyone
has
enough.
and
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