The Shadow of Absolute and Differential Land Rent as Expressed in the Limits of Development of Commodity-Monetary Relations

his section examines the “shadow” of absolute and differential land rent in China under the limits of commodity–money relations. It first clarifies how absolute rent and differential rent arise within a capitalist framework in which the law of average profit operates and excess profit in agriculture can be transformed into rent. It then argues that because commodity production, a unified currency standard, and genuinely free land transfer have developed only unevenly in China, agricultural products often cannot be priced and monetized in a normal way, and rent therefore remains largely tied to payments in kind or to “conversion” practices that do not alter its underlying character. Finally, it shows how weak commodity–money relations, together with non-economic constraints embedded in rural transactions, prevent the formation of capitalist ground rent in both its absolute and differential forms.