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.

'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'This book draws attention to the negative aspects of China's reform process and provides an interesting and vivid portrait of rural society in interior China in the 1990s' - Genia Kostka, Asian Affairs, 2008

• 1. Historical and Theoretical Aspects of Sociological Research  2. Making Arrangements  3. Three Misfortunes Facing the Peasants  4. Promotion Prospects  5. A Visit to a 'Model of Prosperity' Village  6. The Election of the 'Top Ten Officials'  7. Two Wedding Customs: 'Pressing the Bed' and 'Bean Stuffing'  8. A Woman Who Had Escaped the Confines of Traditional Village Life  9. A Visit to the Kaifeng County Party Secretary, 'Yang the Just'  10. The Apple Orchard Owner  11. More on Village Party Secretaries and Corruption  12. The Eye Goddess Temple  13. Abortion Targets - Bureaucracy Gone Mad  14. Imperious Officials in China's Interior  15. An Economically Important Xiang - Chenliu  16. Joint Enterprise and Family-Run Businesses in Zhuqingzhai Village  17. Local Government in a Predicament Over the 'Veto'  18. The Carve-Up of Power at Xiang or Town Level  19. A Visit to Chenliu's Head of Finance  20. Liudian Xiang - Land Reclaimed From the Yellow River  21. Liudian's Drainage Project  22. Village Cadres Who Kept the Flood Drainage Work Going  23. Five Good Things about Being Village Party Secretary  24. Trip to Southern Henan  25. Dual Fields System  26. A Reflection on the Xinyang Affair  27. Some Issues of Mutual Concern  28. A Visit to the Xinyang Region  29. Tensions Between Party and People  30. Tobacco and Cotton - Crops Doomed to Fail  31. One Person Can Make or Break a Kingdom  32. 'Can't Find a Law That Fits'  33. The County Head Talks about Controlling the Officials  34. Visiting the Old Lady at Dongjia Huts Purchasing Favour or Reciprocating Hospitality?  35. Borrowing Money to Make Tax Payments  36. An Episode at Zhengzhou Station  37. The Final Stage of My Trip - the Luo River  38. How the Hill Folk Lived  39. The Bullying Brothers  40. Fighting For 'Poor County' Status   41. 'Cadre Visits are a Waste of Petrol'  42. Back From the Northern Chinese Plains