Francesca Bray is Professor of Anthropology at University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Agriculture, Volume VI, part 2 in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilization in China (1984).

• List of figures and tablesChinese dynastiesJapanese erasPrefaceAcknowledgementsMapsIntroductionEurocentric models of historical changeAn alternative modelThe significance of a model of development for rice economies      1 The rice-plant: diversity and intensificationThe origins of Asian riceNatural characteristics of riceSelection techniques   2 Paths of technical developmentBuilding new fieldsRaising yieldsLabour productivity and the mechanisation question   3 Water controlWater control and institutions: the debateA technical classification of water control systemsGravity-fed irrigation networks Ponds, tanks and reservoirs Contour canals 'Creek' irrigation Pump irrigation schemes Patterns of growth and change 4 Rice and the wider economy 'Skill-oriented' and 'mechanical' technologies The specificity of wet-rice agriculture Uniformity and systemic change Monoculture and markets Economic diversification Petty commodity production and rural industrialisation 5 Development Some basic issues Labour and capital The historical experience: the predominance of labour and the 'Japanese model'Choice of technological inputs Capital investment Productivity of labour and capital Expertise and participation 6 Peasant, landlord and state: changes in relations of production Conflict, cooperation and control Historical changes in relations of production 'Feudal' relations and frontier zones Smallholder economies: expansion and stagnation Egalitarianism or differentiation: the impact of capitalism Land and landlessness 'Land to the tiller' Group farming Socialist land reform    Appendix A: The Western model Appendix B: The historical experience of China Appendix C: The Japanese experienceNotesReferencesGlossaryIndex