The whole middle generation was missing. In the one you count hands, in the other, mouths. By then an increasing number of Third World development workers were suggesting the traditional Chinese farming system was a better model for agricultural development in Southeast Asia and elsewhere than modern industrialized farming methods were proving to be. As journalists we'd spent several years investigating and reporting on development issues in Southeast Asia. We became increasingly interested in the Chinese model and in traditional farming systems in general as an alternative basis for development, and we had rather definite views on just what development meant, and what it didn't mean.
Traditional farms tend to be small.
Traditional vegetable farms in Hong Kong in the 1970s had 4.5 workers per hectare, in Thailand 3, in Malaysia 4.3, in the Philippines from 3 to 8, while brigade farms in South China used 21 workers per hectare. So we went to Tai Long Wan to learn more.