With the creation of the People's Republic of China, several programs were initiated to move the country toward socialism, including the redistribution of land and the collectivization of agriculture

For over 4,000 years, China has been a nation of farmers. By the time the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, virtually all arable land was under cultivation; irrigation and drainage systems constructed centuries earlier and intensive farming practices already produced relatively high yields. But little prime virgin land was available to support population growth and economic development. However, after a decline in production as a result of the Great Leap Forward (1958-60), agricultural reforms implemented in the 1980s increased yields and promised even greater future production from existing cultivated land.