The Demise of China's Overseas Chinese State Farms

Based on published sources and information gathered from oral interviews, this article traces the origins and evolution of the overseas Chinese state farms and analyzes the reasons for and results of their recent localization. The author argues that some major changes that have taken place in China since the late 1970s, including the transition from planned to market economy, the rapid transformation of rural China, the changing dynamics between the central and local governments, and the overall shift in the Chinese Communist Party's policy orientations made localization of the overseas Chinese state farms imperative and inevitable. He asserts that despite some serious problems, localization ultimately will benefit the state farm residents and eventually lead to the disappearance of overseas Chinese state farms and the further assimilation of returned overseas Chinese into larger society.