Skip to main content
Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

University of Washington Press

Visit our Partner Page See all our books
book: Rural China on the Eve of Revolution
Book
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Rural China on the Eve of Revolution

Sichuan Fieldnotes, 1949-1950
  • Edited by: , and
  • Afterword by: and
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2016

About this book

In 1949, G. William Skinner, a Cornell University graduate student, set off for southwest China to conduct field research on rural social structure. He settled near the market town of Gaodianzi, Sichuan, and lived there for two and a half months, until the newly arrived Communists asked him to leave. During his time in Sichuan, Skinner kept detailed field notes and took scores of photos of rural life and unfolding events.

Skinner went on to become a giant in his field—his obituary in American Anthropologist called him “the world’s most influential anthropologist of China.” A key portion of his legacy arose from his Sichuan fieldwork, contained in his classic monograph Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China. Although the People’s Liberation Army confiscated Skinner’s research materials, some had been sent out in advance and were discovered among the files donated to the University of Washington Libraries after his death. Skinner’s notes and photos bring to life this rare glimpse of rural China on the brink of momentous change.

Author / Editor information

Contributor: G. William Skinner G. William Skinner (1925-2008) was the dean of sinological anthropology in the West, a major theorist of family systems, and a pioneer in applying spatial analysis techniques to the study of agrarian societies. He was the author of Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China (Association for Asian Studies, 1965) and Chinese Society in Thailand: An Analytical History (Cornell University Press, 1957); and the coeditor of The City in Late Imperial China (Stanford University Press, 1977) and The Chinese City between Two Worlds (Stanford University Press, 1974). --- Contributor: Stevan Harrell Stevan Harrell is professor emeritus of anthropology and environmental and forest sciences at the University of Washington. He is the author of Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China (UWP, 2001) and An Ecological History of Modern China (UWP, 2023); and editor of the University of Washington Press book series Studies on Ethnic Groups in China. --- Contributor: William Lavely William Lavely is professor of sociology at the University of Washington. He is a coeditor of Rural China on the Eve of Revolution: Sichuan Fieldnotes, 1949–1950 by G. William Skinner (University of Washington Press, 2016) and the author of many articles on demography and the family in contemporary China.

Reviews

"This book deserves to be read by all students of twentieth-century rural China, in particular those with an interest in Sichuan. . . . Skinner’s acute observations and his strong sympathy for the people he studied (a sympathy which they apparently returned) remain a model almost seventy years after the fact."

---

"Skinner (d. 2008) was a leading anthropologist of Chinese society, and much more. . . . This is a unique document."

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    i
    Download PDF
  • Publicly Available

    CONTENTS

    v
    Download PDF
  • Publicly Available

    Preface

    vii
    Stevan Harrell and William Lavely
    Download PDF
  • Publicly Available

    Acknowledgments

    xi
    Download PDF
  • Publicly Available

    Maps

    xii
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    ONE The Road to Gaodianzi: June–November 1949

    1
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    TWO Settling In: November 12–26

    41
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    THREE A Household Survey and Rumors of the Communists: November 28–December 16

    99
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    FOUR Working Out the Market Network as the PLA Approaches: December 13–24

    121
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    FIVE Liberation! December 27–January 3

    147
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    SIX The Communists and the Temples: January 5–13

    164
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    SEVEN The Last Dongyue Temple Festival: January 15–17

    191
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    EIGHT The Premature End of Fieldwork: January 18–25

    212
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Epilogue: January–May 1950

    233
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Afterword

    241
    Zhijia Shen
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Glossary

    245
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Index

    257
    Download PDF

Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 6, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9780295999432
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
280
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780295999432
eBook ISBN: 9780295999432
Keywords for this book
Anthropology; Asian Studies / China; History
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
Downloaded on 17.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780295999432/html
Scroll to top button