Xiaorong Han – författare

Shows how Chinese intellectuals with varying politics envisioned the peasantry and its role in changing society during the first half of the twentieth century.Xiaorong Han explores how Chinese intellectuals envisioned the peasantry and its role in changing society during the first half of the twentieth century. Politically motivated intellectuals, both Communist and non-Communist, believed that rural peasants and their villages would be at the heart of change during this long period of national crisis. Nevertheless, intellectuals saw themselves as the true shapers of change who would transform and use the peasantry. Han uses intellectuals' writings to provide a comprehensive look at their views of the peasantry. He shows how intellectuals with varying politics created images of the peasant-a supposed contemporary image and an ideal image of the peasant transformed for political ends, how intellectuals theorized on the nature of Chinese rural life, and how intellectuals conceived their own relationships with peasants.

Shows how Chinese intellectuals with varying politics envisioned the peasantry and its role in changing society during the first half of the twentieth century.Xiaorong Han explores how Chinese intellectuals envisioned the peasantry and its role in changing society during the first half of the twentieth century. Politically motivated intellectuals, both Communist and non-Communist, believed that rural peasants and their villages would be at the heart of change during this long period of national crisis. Nevertheless, intellectuals saw themselves as the true shapers of change who would transform and use the peasantry. Han uses intellectuals' writings to provide a comprehensive look at their views of the peasantry. He shows how intellectuals with varying politics created images of the peasant-a supposed contemporary image and an ideal image of the peasant transformed for political ends, how intellectuals theorized on the nature of Chinese rural life, and how intellectuals conceived their own relationships with peasants.

The career of communist revolutionary Wei Baqun, one of China's "three great peasant leaders" and man of the southern frontier.Robin Hood–style revolutionary Wei Baqun is often described as one of China's "three great peasant leaders," alongside Mao Zedong and Peng Pai. In his home county of Donglan, where he started organizing peasants in the early 1920s, Wei Baqun came to be considered a demigod after his death-a communist revolutionary with supernatural powers. So much legend has grown up around this fascinating figure that it is difficult to know the truth from the tale. Presenting Wei Baqun's life in light of interactions between his local community and the Chinese nation, Red God is organized around the journeys he made from his multiethnic frontier county to major cities where he picked up ideas, methods, and contacts, and around the three revolts he launched back home. Xiaorong Han explores the congruencies and conflicts of local, regional, and national forces at play during Wei Baqun's lifetime while examining his role as a link between his Zhuang people and the Han majority, between the village and the city, and between the periphery and the center.

The career of communist revolutionary Wei Baqun, one of China's "three great peasant leaders" and man of the southern frontier.Robin Hood–style revolutionary Wei Baqun is often described as one of China's "three great peasant leaders," alongside Mao Zedong and Peng Pai. In his home county of Donglan, where he started organizing peasants in the early 1920s, Wei Baqun came to be considered a demigod after his death-a communist revolutionary with supernatural powers. So much legend has grown up around this fascinating figure that it is difficult to know the truth from the tale. Presenting Wei Baqun's life in light of interactions between his local community and the Chinese nation, Red God is organized around the journeys he made from his multiethnic frontier county to major cities where he picked up ideas, methods, and contacts, and around the three revolts he launched back home. Xiaorong Han explores the congruencies and conflicts of local, regional, and national forces at play during Wei Baqun's lifetime while examining his role as a link between his Zhuang people and the Han majority, between the village and the city, and between the periphery and the center.