Map with village sites marked

The red circle encloses Xiejia Village research site. County boundaries and county-level canals are shown for Wujin and Wuxi counties only. Changzhou (capital of Wujin County), Wuxi and Suzhou cities are labeled to the right of their urban areas.

Please click here for satellite imagery of the village sites in 1964.

• Total area: 35,272 km², 52% in Jiangsu Province, 33% in Zhejiang Province and 15% in Shanghai (Gong, 1988).
• Climate: Humid subtropical monsoon region, 1100-1400 mm annual precipitation, annual mean temperature ~16°C, 290 day growing season.
• Terrain: about 75% plains and 25% hills and low mountains.
• Principle crops: Japonica rice (Oryza sativa) grown in a rice/wheat (Triticum aestivum) cropping system. Also important: Rapeseed (Brassica napus), Mulberry (Morus alba), Soybean (Glycine max), Bok Choy (Brassica chinensis), Chinese Milk Vetch (Astragalus sinicus).