Chinese Village, Socialist State

by Edward Friedman, Paul G. Pickowicz, Mark Selden

The detailed portrait of social change in the North China plain depicts how the world of the Chinese peasant evolved during an era of war and revolution and how it in turn shaped the revolutionary process. The authors spent a decade interviewing villagers and rural officials, exploring archives, and investigating villagers with diverse resources and cultural, traditions, and they vividly describe both the promise and the human tragedy of China’s rural revolution.

Exploring the decades before and after the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, they trace the growing economic desperation and cultural disintegration that led to the revolution, the reforms undertaken by the Communist leadership that initially brought economic gains and cultural healing, and the tensions that soon developed between party and peasantry. They show that the Communist antimarket and collectivist strategies which culminated in the imposed collectivization of 1955-56 and the disastrous Great Leap Forward of 1958-60, clashed with cherished peasant cultural norms and economic aspirations. Eventually the party’s attack on peasant values and interests, the authors find, produced a rupture that threatened both developmental and socialist goals and destroyed the democratic potential of the revolution at its best.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Politics, Read For School

379 pages, Paperback

First published January 27, 1991

Reviews

[Sallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ughhhhhh it’s informative for a China Studies class, I guess? But reading it was a chore. There were too many characters and the background wasn’t explained really well.

[Naked Fish · Rating 5 out of 5]

多次访问河北省饶阳县五公村，全景式记录其农业发展，辅以乡村文化、人际关系、宗族网络的叙述。小规模的互助现象早在49年前就已经兴起。但中共的到来将一切抛入快车道，忽略地方特性而重视社会主义教义，无脑追求大规模合作化和消灭任何所谓剥削，最终酿成苦果。“儒家”传统中丑恶的一面被社会主义激发出来。农村传统文化、民族爱国主义、社会主义下中央制定的行为准则和地方中央的关系网络（此条尤为在书中被重点分析）都是决定当地政策和农民生活体验的重要因素。另外隐约感觉此书的assumption和Pomeranz的研究有关。书中的一些叙述和观点已成为常识，但在90年代初还是很有开拓性。此书中的主人公在Pickowicz作顾问的纪录片中都有出镜，配合食用更佳。非常好奇现在的学者会怎样批判这三位对于现代化的执念。

[Ginny Ip · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an utterly depressing, horrifying but eye-opening read.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors conducted interviews with villagers in Raoyang county in Hebei province, in the north of China. The book describes the lives of the villagers, mostly focusing on Wugong village, from the beginning of the 20th century to around 1960 and 1961. The authors were able to interview not only villagers, but also outsiders who supported the village or were otherwise involved, giving them a bigger picture of the events. Wugong was exceptional though, so I'm not sure how much of a good average it is. The authors are careful to not when Wugong's circumstances were above average, or somehow different from the norm. It was really informative and interesting, but I wouldn't recommend it to a casual reader.

[AskHistorians]

the first Western social scientists to collect data from the People's Republic of China, focusing on rural Hebei province, south of Beijing. Starting at the "honeymoon period" after the Communists took power, the authors focus their criticism on how Party edicts led to stagnation and immiseration for the villages, creating essentially a neo-feudal order.

[Chris Doherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. If you really want to know how communism was implemented and understand why it failed, READ THIS BOOK.