China Along the Yellow River Reflections on Rural Society [Paperback]

This text had a major impact in its original Chinese version. Reviewed in the Far East Economic Reviewas 'one of the richest portraits of the Chinese countryside published in the reform era', it charts a long journey through the hinterland region of the Yellow River undertaken by the author between 1994 and 1996. It examines in exhaustive detail the lives and work of peasants, Party and local government officials, providing a wealth of data on the nature of life in post-reform rural China. The author argues that global integration is but the latest 'great leap forward' in a succession of reforms over a hundred years.1. Historical and Theoretical Aspects of Sociological Research  2. Making Arrangements  3. Three Misfortunes Facing the Peasants  4. Promotion Prospects  5. A Visit to a 'Model of Prosperity' Village  6. The Election of the 'Top Ten Officials'  7. Two Wedding Customs: 'Pressing the Bed' and 'Bean Stuffing'  8. A Woman Who Had Escaped the Confines of Traditional Village Life  9. A Visit to the Kaifeng County Party Secretary, 'Yang the Just'  10. The Apple Orchard Owner  11. More on Village Party Secretaries and Corruption  12. The Eye Goddess Temple  13. Abortion Targets - Bureaucracy Gone Mad  14. Imperious Officials in China's Interior  15. An Economically Important Xiang - Chenliu  16. Joint Enterprise and Family-Run Businesses in Zhuqingzhai Village  17. Local Government in a Predicament Over the 'Veto'  18. The Carve-Up of Power at Xiang or Town Level  19. A Visit to Chenliu's Head of Finance  20. Liudian Xiang - Land Reclaimed From the Yellow River  21. Liudian's Drainage Project  22. Village Cadres Who Kept the Flood Drainage Work Going  23. Five Good Things about Being Village Party Secretary  24. Trip to Southern Henan &nbsplSU