Book excerpt: This dissertation, "The Growth of Township and Village Enterprises and Rural Economic Development in China: a Comparative Study of Guangdong and Guizhou Provinces, 1984-2000" by Kit-yee, Cheng, 鄭潔儀, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of dissertation entitled The Growth of Township and Village Enterprises and Rural Economic Development in China: A Comparative Study of Guangdong and Guizhou Provinces, 1984-2000 Submitted by Cheng Kit Yee for the Master of Arts in China Area Studies at the University of Hong Kong in June 2003 Since the 1980s, China's economic reforms have brought remarkable changes to its rural economy. The rapid growth and restructuring of the Chinese economy over the last two decades have attracted the attention of scholars to study the nature and process of change in rural China in different fields. One of the important fields of study concerns about China's Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs) and their explicit contributions to the Chinese rural economy. It is believed that TVEs have effectively absorbed rural surplus labourers and enhanced the living standard of the rural population. This research examines the relationship between TVEs and rural economic development in two selected provinces - Guangdong on the eastern coast and Guizhou in the interior. TVEs in Guangdong played a more significant role by facilitating rural economic development from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s and transforming the rural economy into one with an export orientation. In recent years, however, TVEs have suffered from stagnant growth because of structural adjustments. By comparison, TVEs in Guizhou have been more stable and played a consistent role in rural economic development. The significance of TVEs in the rural economy of Guizhou is found to be a consequence of the regional nature of its economy. The findings of this study lend support the argument that the development of TVEs is one of the solutions to poverty in China. However, TVEs have also caused serious problems such as massive rural migration and environmental degradation in the countryside in the recent two decades. Therefore, this study stresses the importance of necessary state intervention and regulation to facilitate further sustainable development of TVEs in the future. DOI: 10.5353/th_b2666935 Subjects: Rural industries - China - Guangdong Sheng Rural industries - China - Guizhou Sheng Rural development - China - Guangdong Sheng Rural development - China - Guizhou Sheng