Introduction

1. Statement of the thesis

2. Studies of Chinese peasants in historical perspective

3. The significance of this book

4. The layout of this book

Chapter 1 General Description of Xiao County and Lijialou

1. On the old route of the Yellow River

2. The general economic and social characteristics of Lijialou

3. Education in Xiao County and Lijialou

Chapter 2 The Li Lineage in the Late Imperial Period between 1369 and 1911

1. The Li lineage and three types of Chinese lineage

2. The Hongdong legend: large scale immigration during the Ming Dynasty

3. The first ancestor and the six senior segments

4. Li Yaoba (J2) and the seven junior segments

5. Integration and continuity of the Li Lineage

(1) Localization of the Li Lineage

(2) Graveyards, land, the ancestors' hall, and the annual cycle of rites

(3) Genealogy

(4) The bureaucratic and literate elite as leaders and promoters of the Li Lineage

Chapter 3 Social Change during the Republican Period between 1912 and 1949

1. The five yards in Lijialou

(1) Building up the family fortunes - Guangying (N3) and his three sons

(2) Fen jia - house divided

2. Social mobility in the three yards after the abolition of the examination system

(1) Back Yard

(2) Front Yard

(3) West Yard

3. The economic basis of village life

4. The family and its composition

(1) Classification

(2) Residence and lifestyle

(3) Chuan zong jie dai, "the continuity of descent"

(4) The position of the jia zhang, "family head"

(5) The status of women

(6) The inheritance of property

(7) Fictive adoption
A. Gai zui, "correcting oneself"
B. Ren gan qin, "adoption by fictive parents"

5. Politics inside and outside the village

(1) Bao jia system

(2) During the Japanese invasion

Chapter 4 Socialist Collectivization in Rural China

1. Land reform

(1) Establishing a new administration in the village

(2) Ascertaining class status

(3) Struggling against the landlords

(4) Realizing the policy of "land to the tiller"

2. The first step of collectivization

(1) Hu zhu zu, "mutual aid groups"

(2) Lower-level agricultural producers' cooperatives

(3) Higher-level agricultural producers' cooperatives

(4) Establishing gong xiao she, "supply and marketing co-operatives" and social mobility

(5) Tong gou tong xiao, "unified purchase and unified sale"

3. Great Leap Forward to socialist collectivization

(1) Establishment of the People's Communes

(2) Artificial or natural disaster?

(3) A letter that saved the lives of thousands of people

(4) The responsibility system

4. Cultural and ideological change in rural areas

(1) Cultural Revolution

(2) Learning from Lei Feng and learning from Dazhai

5. Organizations during the collective period

(1) The arrangement of the three levels of the collectives

(2) Patron-client relations between cadres and commune members

Chapter 5 Lijialou under the Responsibility System

1. The start of the responsibility system in Anhui Province

2. Changes of local politics

(1) Administrative reform

(2) Changing relation between cadres and masses

3. Economic change

(1) The collective economy under the responsibility system

(2) The surges of scientific farming and mechanization

(3) From a mono-crop production economy to a diversified economy

4. Reconstruction of lineage under the new economic system

Chapter 6 Gender, Marriage and Affines

1. Changing patterns in the process of betrothal and marriage

(1) Ti qin, "making an offer of marriage"

(2) He tian ming, "divination"

(3) Jian mian, "looking in the face", i.e. meeting

(4) Ding hun, "being betrothed"

(5) Yao ri zi, "asking the wifegivers the date of the wedding"

(6) Jie xin ren, "transferring the bride"

2. Wifegivers and wifetakers: changing relations in marriage payments

(1) A basic pattern of higher dowry between 1930 and 1980

(2) The new pattern of wifegivers being superior to wifetakers

3. Mechanisms of change in marriage patterns

(1) Increasing incomes since 1980

(2) The increasing value of women's labor

(3) The imbalance in the sex ratio

(4) Changes in consumption on the part of the younger generation

(5) Affinal links in access to credit and labor

4. Casualties of the marriage market

5. Women from outside and the women's association

Chapter 7 The Growth of Christianity in Northern Anhui

1. Christianity in historical and current perspective

2. The Protestant churches, meeting centers and meeting places

3. The preaching methods in Suxian Prefecture

4. Causes of the rapid growth of Christianity

(1) The policy of religious freedom

(2) Economic reform and the breakup of the communes

(3) Comparing Christianity with other beliefs and religions

5. The influence of Christianity on social life

Chapter 8 The Revival of Rituals, and Reconstruction of Agnatic and Affinal Networks

1. Gift exchange between agnates and affines

(1) The tradition of gift exchange

(2) Gift exchange during the collective period

(3) Gift exchange under the responsibility system
A. Hui men "going back to the natal home"
B. Bao xi, "announcing good news"
C. Jie nuo wo "transferring"
D. Song zhu mi "sending blessing rice"
E. Qiao hua "expressing sympathy to a vaccinated baby"
F. Marriage
G. Funerals
H. New Year's greetings

I. Mid-Autumn greetings

(4) Gift exchange as an insurance system

2. The genealogy boom at its height

3. Rebuilding a monument for an ancestor from three hundred years ago

1. Is there continuity in social and cultural structure?

2. How can we assess the impact of collectivization and de-collectivization?

3. Changing women's status

4. Narratives of their future