Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. List of Illustrations ix
4. Explanation of Commonly Used Chinese Terms xi
5. Acknowledgments xv
6. Foreword xix
7. Introduction 1
8. Part I. Setting the Scene
9. 1. Shanxi, Greater China, and the Famine 15
10. 2. Experiencing the Famine: The Hierarchy of Suffering in a Famine Song from Xiezhou 42
11. Part II. Praise and Blame: Interpretive Frameworks of Famine Causation
12. Introduction 69
13. 3. The Wrath of Heaven versus Human Greed 71
14. 4. Qing Officialdom and the Politics of Famine 90
15. 5. Views from the Outside: Science, Railroads, and Laissez-Faire Economics 114
16. 6. Hybrid Voices: The Famine and Jiangnan Activism 131
17. Part III. Icons of Starvation: Images, Myths, and Illusions
18. Introduction 159
19. 7. Family and Gender in Famine 161
20. 8. The “Feminization of Famine” and the Feminization of Nationalism 189
21. 9. Eating Culture: Cannibalism and the Semiotics of Starvation, 1870–2001 211
22. Epilogue: New Tears for New Times; The Famine Revisited 235
23. Glossary of Chinese Characters 245
24. Notes 251
25. Bibliography 301
26. Index 319