This book is the effect of several years’ cooperation between the Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences．0ur cooperation has continued since l 997．It involves research visits in each others’ country during

which the two sides not only discuss problems related to the socio-economic development of the two countries but also pay visits to institutions and organizations dealing with rural problems, hold meetings with representatives of local authorities，etc．As a result of this cooperation, articles written by Chinese authors were published in China’s academic journals and joint seminars and conferences were also organized．    

      The subject of joint research interests--“Macroeconomic and structural problems in rural areas during the period of economic reforms within the context of accession to World Trade Organization and the European Union”-- was specified by the two sides in an agreement signed by the Institutes．

      Both Poland and China have been introducing a reorientation of their economic systems towards the implementation of market mechanisms．The functioning of these mechanisms in the case of rural areas and agriculture in particular is restricted to a certain extent．The scope of these restrictions is related to external conditions(accession to WTO and also to the European Union in the case of Poland)and internal conditions(demographic settlement and social problems，labor market balance，etc．)．This situation causes restrictions in the functioning of market laws, especially in the agricultural sector．This creates the need for the countries introducing reforms to exchange experience on the subject of concepts of the model of village and agriculture under new conditions and in particular the related concepts of shaping macroeconomic indicators，village structures，development of economic functions of villages and also models of supporting individual economic activity and of the social system for the rural population．

      Despite enormous differences between Poland and China，one can find many similar problems with regard to the development of rural areas．One can also exploit each other’s experience related to the ways of solving them．This publication is the outcome of joint search and discussions．Chinese and Polish authors bring up similar topics，those which have been regarded in our countries as especially important．

    Owing to its limited size，the publication focuses only on selected problems which came into the foreground in the course of our to-date cooperation．Other，no less important，problems will certainly become the subject of our further discussions and joint research in the future．

      0ur Countries are separated by great distance and different experiences．Today’s world is shrinking and social and economic transformations taking place in one part of it have an increasingly strong impact on even the most distant regions．Despite differences we have much in common：our countries are undergoing deep reforms towards market economy．Both have been dynamically modernizing their economies，joining in world trade and opening up to foreign investment．In this process，specific problems are present in both Chinese and Polish rural areas．This publication is devoted to these issues．It sums up to-date cooperation between our Institutes and sets cooperation directions for the coming years．

Marek Klodzinski