Review of the hardback: '… a powerful argument … Readers will learn just as much about how to study China as they will about China itself in this fascinating book.' Journal of China Quarterly

• 1. Introduction; 2. Peasants and taxation in historical perspective; 3. Extracting funds from the peasants; 4. Institutional sources of informal tax burdens; 5. Burdens and resistance: peasant collective action; 6. Containing burdens: change and persistence; 7. Burden reduction: village democratization and farmer national interest representation; 8. Conclusions.

Review of the hardback: '… a powerful argument … Readers will learn just as much about how to study China as they will about China itself in this fascinating book.' Journal of China Quarterly

• 1. Introduction; 2. Peasants and taxation in historical perspective; 3. Extracting funds from the peasants; 4. Institutional sources of informal tax burdens; 5. Burdens and resistance: peasant collective action; 6. Containing burdens: change and persistence; 7. Burden reduction: village democratization and farmer national interest representation; 8. Conclusions.

Review of the hardback: '… a powerful argument … Readers will learn just as much about how to study China as they will about China itself in this fascinating book.' Journal of China Quarterly

• 1. Introduction; 2. Peasants and taxation in historical perspective; 3. Extracting funds from the peasants; 4. Institutional sources of informal tax burdens; 5. Burdens and resistance: peasant collective action; 6. Containing burdens: change and persistence; 7. Burden reduction: village democratization and farmer national interest representation; 8. Conclusions.