Promotional Information

William Skinners field notes, edited by Harrell and Lavely, present an absorbing recital of life in rural Sichuan on the eve of its transformation into socialism. The photos enormously enhance the text, which is studded with insights foreshadowing some of Skinners most important contributions to the China field, and evoke the circumstances of ordinary Chinese living through chaotic times. There is much to learn from this book. -- Evelyn Rawski, University of Pittsburgh The discovery of Bill Skinner's day-to-day account of the communist takeover of Sichuan is very significant. Historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists will find much of interest in this book. -- James L. Watson, Harvard University An important contribution to the historical literature on Chinas revolution as a firsthand account of the communist transition. -- P. Steven Sangren, author of Chinese Sociologics: An Anthropological Account of Alienation and Social Reproduction

Table of Contents

Preface / Stevan Harrell and William Lavely

Acknowledgments

Maps

1. The Road to Gaodianzi: June–November 1949

2. Settling In: November 12–26

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

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

5. Liberation! December 27–January 3

6. The Communists and the Temples: January 5–13

7. The Last Dongyue Temple Festival: January 15–17

8. The Premature End of Fieldwork: January 18–25

Epilogue: January–May 1950

Afterword / Zhijia Shen

About the Author

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. Stevan Harrell, professor of anthropology and environmental and forest sciences at the University of Washington, is the author of Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China. William Lavely, professor of international studies and sociology at the University of Washington, is the author of many articles on demography and the family in contemporary China.

Reviews

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

"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."
*Pacific Affairs*