Book

Peasant life in China: a field study of country life in the Yangtze Valley

Oxford University PressNew York • Published In 1946 • Pages:

By: Fei, Hsiao-tung.

Abstract
This is a study of the factors behind economic and social change in a small agrarian village, where a decline in the demand for silk resulted in poverty and misery. With silk no longer the principal source of cash income, peasants were forced to borrow at usurious rates, leading to a greater degree of absentee landlordism. Reforms in the silk industry have helped very little. Although only about two months were spent in the field, the author was a native of the district, so could provide considerable information on family, clan and community structure. Land tenure systems are explained and classified.
Subjects
Sociocultural trends
Domesticated animals
Textile industries
Real property
Inheritance
Internal trade
Service industries
Credit
Standard of living
Kinship terminology
culture
Han Chinese
Region
Asia
Sub Region
East Asia
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Frank W. Moore ; 1955
Field Date
1936
Coverage Date
1935-1936
Coverage Place
Kaixiangong (Kaihsienkung), Wujiang, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Notes
by Hsiao-tung Fei ; with a pref. by Bronislaw Malinowski
Includes bibliographical references and index
LCSH
Peasantry--China--Yangtze River Valley
Villages--China--Yangtze River Valley
Yangtze Valley--Economic conditions
Yangtze Valley--Social life and customs