Town and Country in China

DARIA BERG Lecturer in Chinese Literature, University of Durham HENRIETTA HARRISON Lecturer in History, University of Leeds ELISABETH KA-LL Assistant Professor, Department of History, Case Western Reserve University HANCHAO LU Associate Professor, School of History, Technology and Society, Georgia Institute of Technology MA MIN Professor of History, Central China Normal University HELEN F. SIU Professor in Anthropology, Yale University ZHAO SHIYU Professor of History, Beijing Normal University CATHERINE VANCE YEH Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Heidelberg

The transformation in Chinese social theory in the twentieth century placed the rural-urban divide at the centre of individual identity. This interdisciplinary collection traces the development and distinctions between urban and rural life and the effect on the Chinese sense of identity from the sixteenth century to the present day.The transformation in Chinese social theory in the twentieth century placed the rural-urban divide at the centre of individual identity. In 1500, such distinctions were insignificant and it was the emergence of political reforms in the early 1920s and 1930s which separated cities and towns as agents of social change and encouraged a perception of rural backwardness. This interdisciplinary collection traces the development and distinctions between urban and rural life and the effect on the Chinese sense of identity from the sixteenth century to the present day. It provides a daunting example of the influence that political ideology may exert on an individual's sense of place.