This text had a major impact in its original Chinese version. Reviewed in the Far East Economic Review as 'one of the richest portraits of the Chinese countryside published in the reform era', it charts a long journey through the hinterland region of the Yellow River undertaken by the author between 1994 and 1996. It examines in exhaustive detail the lives and work of peasants, Party and local government officials, providing a wealth of data on the nature of life in post-reform rural China. The author argues that global integration is but the latest 'great leap forward' in a succession of reforms over a hundred years.

'Cao Jinqing has excelled in providing and guiding a hugely important conversation which will, as a result of his book, extend far beyond the peasant houses, Party schools and government offices of rural Henan.' -China Review

'Cao Jinqing has excelled in provoking and guiding a hugely important conversation which will, as a result of his book, extend far beyond the peasant houses, Party schools and government offices of rural Henan.' -China Review

Cao Jinqing was born in 1949 in Zhejiang province, Central China, and graduated as a mature student in philosophy form Fudan University, Shanghai, in 1982. He now heads the Sociology Department at East China Polytechnic University. This book is not his first publication but it is his first major work. It has been widely reviewed in China, but is little known outside China.
Nicky Harman graduated in Chinese at Leeds University in 1972. She currently teaches Chinese Translation at Imperial College London, and translated K-The Art of Love by Hong Ying (Marion Boyars, 2002).
Huang Ruhua was born in 1960 in Shanghai, Central China, and graduated in philosophy from Fudan University, Shanghai in 1982. Between 1985 and 1990, she lectured in Shanghai, and then moved to England where she is the mother of two young children and works part time.