The Centennial Vicissitudes of Ma'anshan Village: A Study on Economic and Social Changes in Chinese Villages

Author: Wu Wenmian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This book is written to strengthen village studies, reflecting the development history of a village in the 20th century. We chose Ma'an Village as the first among 22 tracked villages in Wuxi and Baoding for our research. In terms of content, the book primarily narrates the changes that occurred in Ma'an Village over the 100 years of the 20th century. Following the principle of giving more weight to the present and less to the past, and also because historical materials from the later 50 years are more detailed and reliable, the focus of the narrative is on the history of the 50 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially the history since the reform and opening-up. In terms of structure, the book attempts to combine the historical context with logical classification as much as possible. Ma'an Village is, after all, an ordinary and little-known village. Before reading this book, people are still unfamiliar with the scenes, characters, and events described in it. Therefore, in the preface, the book briefly introduces the social and historical background of Ma'an Village's history on one hand, and on the other hand, raises some reflective questions about this history and its characteristics, hoping to help readers understand and engage with the content.