The Spiral Road: Change In A Chinese Village Through The Eyes Of A Communist Party Leader, Second Edition (Conflict and Social Change Series) - Softcover

Huang Shu-min; Huang, Shu-min

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813334470 ISBN 13: 9780813334479

Publisher: Westview Press, 1998

Synopsis

The leading Party cadre of Lin Village in southeast China describes in this book nearly fifty years of turbulent events that affected individuals and families in the village: the downfall of the landlords during the Land Reform, the rise of poor peasants to political power, the political fanaticism of the Great Leap Forward and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and recent efforts to restore rational, pragmatic policies in China's countryside.The magnitude of change in Lin Village since 1949 has been considerable. Most villagers have benefited from tangible improvements in agriculture, education, and medicine, and they have developed a sense of political participation and integration into the national political arena. Significantly, while these dynamic changes have been taking place, the observance of cultural tradition has persisted. Attempts made by the government to change feudalistic” beliefs and practices have yet to make any lasting impression on village life.The second edition includes two new chapters, based on the author's continuing visits to China. One chapter details changes in Lin Village, such as Taiwanese investment of capital, large-scale production, international marketing, and new lifestyles. Physically, Lin Village has become a small market town with large department stores and daily vegetable markets; and living in European-style villas, driving imported automobiles, and walking with a cellular phone in hand has become the prototype of the successful person. The other chapter focuses on the continuing story of Mr. Ye: his ideas for expanding the villagers' wealth, his wheeling and dealing to set up lucrative businesses in Lin Village, and his arrangements to secure jobs for his family members and close kin.More than an account of one village, this book documents for readers the cataclysmic changes of China's entire post-liberation era, detailing their effects in a personalized style. An American anthropologist of Chinese descent, Huang Shu-min employs participant-observation and personal interviews to shape this unique view of rural China today and to delineate some of the misconceptions held by Western academics.

About this title

About the Author

Huang Shu-min is professor of anthropology at Iowa State University. Huang Shu-min is professor of anthropology at Iowa State University.

From Library Journal

An exceptional look at contemporary rural China. Huang (anthropology, Iowa State) skillfully penetrates the barriers of culture, class, etc., to reveal life in a coastal village. The book covers the past 40 years through the perspective of Ye Wende, village leader and local Communist party secretary, whom Huang met in 1984 when he went to southeastern China to teach and do fieldwork. From Ye we hear about events that have shaken rural China: land reform, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. The rural, peasant perspective of this book makes it dramatically different from others. Only Anita Chan et al., Chen Village: The Present History of a Peasant Community in Mao's China (LJ 5/1/84), provides comparable insight. Huang's book, however, is more readable and less an academic treatise. Although published by an academic house, this compelling work deserves a wide general audience.
- David D. Buck, Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Westview Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0813334470
• ISBN 13: 9780813334479
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 272