Team leader Wang is not the stuff heroes are made of. A seasoned farmer, he is willing to serve, but reluctant to lead. The background of his family–opium addiction, secret societies, illiteracy, patriarchal authority, female suicide–is not uncommon. What makes him remarkable is that he is the leader of a collective of 84 families. Established under Mao Zedong, the commune must now transform itself according to the new leadership's vision. This book tells what happened in a Chinese village during and since Mao's long leadership. Based on interviews with scores of villagers right up to 1988, as well as on Chinese government documents, local records and newspapers, this study reveals the dynamics of China's revolutionary social, economic, and cultural change through the microcosm of village life.
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Born in Shanghai to a long line of Canadian missionaries to China, Endicott, a history professor at Ontario University, grew up in China. He left before the Communist revolution, but returned for extended periods in the '80s to record the impact upon one rural village of four decades of sweeping land reforms and social and institutional restructuring under the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Detailed research and empathy for the Chinese inform the author's observations and appraisals of changes in public health, schools, women's emancipation and family planning, etc. More memorable, however, are his realistic portraits and the oral histories given by commune members, including group leaders, midwives and doctors. Endicott's sensitivity to the people's life rhythms, bred of intimate and cordial associations highly unusual for an outsider, allows him a unique perspective.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Stephen Endicott was born in Shanghai of missionary parents, and he grew up in China before the Communist revolution. He returned to China for lengthy visits, beginning in 1972. Most recently, in 1988, he spent six months in that country, teaching, doing research, and traveling. Dr. Endicott teaches history at York University, Ontario.
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