Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
settlement process affect villagers' social networks? To address this question, the survey
asked villagers about two aspects of their networks: their reciprocal relationships with oth-
ers, including the sharing of financial resources and farm labor; and their subjective atti-
tudes about community life in their village.
Table 3.4
shows a comparison of reciprocal behavior between resettled communities and
nonresettled communities over a twelve-month period. I conducted basic statistical ana-
lyses, using independent-samples t-tests and chi-square tests, to determine whether there
were significant differences in reciprocal behavior based on resettlement status.
12
The most striking finding shown in
table 3.4
, and one that may have long-term implica-
tions for these communities, relates to borrowing and lending activity. Most borrowing and
lending take place within immediate or extended families, between parents and their grown
children, or among members of the kinship networks of the household head or spouse.
Households from the nonresettled category were net lenders; they loaned out far more
money than resettled households, and their largest reported loan (11,339 yuan on average)
wasthreetimes higherthanthatreportedbyresettled households(3,273yuan).Bycontrast,
resettled households tended to be net borrowers. Although a comparatively small number
of these households had borrowed money during the year in question, the average amount
of the largest loan they incurred was 10,121 yuan, which amounts to about one-quarter of
the annual income from all sources. In short, resettled households often borrowed fairly
large sums of money. It is difficult to say with certainty, but this heavier borrowing could
be indicative of a trend of indebtedness for households dealing with the shocks of displace-
ment and resettlement: they borrow money to temporarily offset lost income or to invest in
making improvements, in irrigation canals or other infrastructure, on their newly acquired
agricultural land.
