This study investigates the rise and growth of a market economy in the Longlake region, Hubei province, China. Well known in China as the land of fish and rice, the Longlake region has a long tradition of fresh water fishery. Yet, it is the last two decades of the twentieth century that have witnessed the dramatic transformation of fishery from subsistence oriented sideline production to a thriving market-oriented economy. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this study aims to examine the making of this burgeoning market economy, focusing on a set of vital economic institutions, including property rights and markets, as well as the changing organizational forms in fishery. Their evolution and the dynamics between them and the social, cultural, legal, and political settings in which both economic institutions and organizations are deeply embedded constitutes the main substantive theme of this study.

Ning Wing is Social Researcher at the University of Chicago, Law School.

1. Introduction 2. Economy and Institutions 3. The Rise of Fish Markets 4. A Study of Property Rights Transformation 5. A Study of the Firm 6. Concluding Perspectives References