Technology, labour, livestock, and the Maoist developmental state: Four-wheeled tractors in China, 1953–1963

Four-wheeled, 25–50 horsepower tractors imported to China from other socialist countries in the 1950s were a symbol of modernity and a source of problems. They were introduced to North China to increase multiple cropping. No significant increase in multiple cropping occurred in that region. The cost of tractor services far outweighed what could be earned with the labour they displaced in the 1950s and early 1960s. However, the government remained committed to them, even as it promoted cheaper five horsepower two-wheeled tractors. Greater use of four-wheeled tractors was sustained by the rapid downgrading of the hitherto privileged role of the tractor driver, alongside an ad hoc system of tacit subsidies. These changes meant deviation from the original vision for tractors. The dire fate of draught livestock during the era of rural collectivisation was an important reason for persevering with four-wheeled tractors even as the country turned away from Soviet development models.