This paper investigates the Chinese experience in col­ lective farming during Mao's period. The relationship between collectivism and productivity, efficiency, and labor incentives are examined in a comparative frame­ work between the collectivization and the privatization years. The author argues that there is insufficient evi­ dence to support the conventional view that rural col­ lectivism directly generates the problems of lack of work incentives or the inefficient use of resources. In other words, the problems in the collective period are not necessarily generated by the collective practice itself