From Riches to Rags?

If there is one thing that all major Southeast Asian countries have in common, it is surely the importance of rice. Political, economic, social, and cultural life in many areas of the region is, in fact, dominated by the production of rice. Rice cultivation has a large share in the economy and also in the diet of the populations. Rice prices and income and the production of rice-growing peasant cultivators are closely monitored by national governments, and subsidies and tariffs regarding rice production and trade are important items in their economic policy toolkits. Under the surface of the region’s majority religions, rice goddesses and similar beings are found lurking in myths of origin and other ancient stories. In many areas the beginning of the rice planting or sowing season and the start of the rice harvest are both occasions for festivities and feasts. Clearly, Southeast Asia is not alone in this respect, it shares the characteristics of a “rice economy” or “rice society” with India, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. In this chapter, I am concerned mainly with Southeast Asia, though I refer occasionally to the other “rice” areas.