"Professor Zhang's work is in the vanguard of work on twentieth-century China. Although the book focuses on Henan province, its themes have nation-wide implications; his study indeed raises important new questions about many of the themes that have come to be at the center of intellectual discourse about modern China: relationships between state and society; relationships between tradition and modernity; questions of social and political identity; the relativity of context; and the role of space and place in history. Professor Zhang's own command and presentation of theoretical issues itself will insure the readership of comparativists from other disciplines and other areas of history. This book promises to be a most significant contribution to the field." R. Keith Schoppa, Loyola College in Maryland

• List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Part I. Introduction: 1. Theoretical context; 2. Socioeconomic setting of Henan; Part II. Local Elites and the Transition of Community Power: 3. Local society in transition; 4. Elite mobility in a changing world; Part III. Elite Activism and Social Transformation: 5. Society as the organization of networks; 6. Local identity, localism, and crisis of legitimacy; Part IV. Modern State Making and the Interaction Between State and Society: 7. State making during the Republican period; 8. State and society in mutual engagement; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

"Professor Zhang's work is in the vanguard of work on twentieth-century China. Although the book focuses on Henan province, its themes have nation-wide implications; his study indeed raises important new questions about many of the themes that have come to be at the center of intellectual discourse about modern China: relationships between state and society; relationships between tradition and modernity; questions of social and political identity; the relativity of context; and the role of space and place in history. Professor Zhang's own command and presentation of theoretical issues itself will insure the readership of comparativists from other disciplines and other areas of history. This book promises to be a most significant contribution to the field." R. Keith Schoppa, Loyola College in Maryland

• List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Part I. Introduction: 1. Theoretical context; 2. Socioeconomic setting of Henan; Part II. Local Elites and the Transition of Community Power: 3. Local society in transition; 4. Elite mobility in a changing world; Part III. Elite Activism and Social Transformation: 5. Society as the organization of networks; 6. Local identity, localism, and crisis of legitimacy; Part IV. Modern State Making and the Interaction Between State and Society: 7. State making during the Republican period; 8. State and society in mutual engagement; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

"Professor Zhang's work is in the vanguard of work on twentieth-century China. Although the book focuses on Henan province, its themes have nation-wide implications; his study indeed raises important new questions about many of the themes that have come to be at the center of intellectual discourse about modern China: relationships between state and society; relationships between tradition and modernity; questions of social and political identity; the relativity of context; and the role of space and place in history. Professor Zhang's own command and presentation of theoretical issues itself will insure the readership of comparativists from other disciplines and other areas of history. This book promises to be a most significant contribution to the field." R. Keith Schoppa, Loyola College in Maryland

• List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Part I. Introduction: 1. Theoretical context; 2. Socioeconomic setting of Henan; Part II. Local Elites and the Transition of Community Power: 3. Local society in transition; 4. Elite mobility in a changing world; Part III. Elite Activism and Social Transformation: 5. Society as the organization of networks; 6. Local identity, localism, and crisis of legitimacy; Part IV. Modern State Making and the Interaction Between State and Society: 7. State making during the Republican period; 8. State and society in mutual engagement; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.