West China in recent history

Following the Communist Party of China’s victory in the Chinese Civil War (1927–50), control of the farmlands of western China was handed to the 300 million peasant farmers. In the following years, the government formally took control of the land, further structuring the agricultural areas into large government-operated collective farms. Emphasis shifted on to industrialization rather than agriculture, and today, as China continues to industrialize, huge expanses of agricultural land are being converted for industrial use, and factory work is becoming the source of income for many farmers. The political and economic landscape of China continues to evolve, but western China nonetheless remains one of the world’s biggest food producers, and its ingredients are exported around the globe.