As a result, the average growth rate of agriculture rocketed from
1.9 per cent over the period 1952-78 to 7.4 per cent during the period
1978-84. Farmers' per capita income increased from 133 yuan in 1978 to
355 yuan in 1984, in nominal terms. The real growth rate of farmers' per
capita income was 15 per cent per annum between 1978 and 1984.
Increasing incomes not only lifted the absolute living standards of rural
people significantly, but also narrowed the rural-urban income gap. In
1978, the per capita urban income was 136 per cent above the rural
income. This gap was reduced to 69 per cent in 1983 and 71 per cent in
1984.