Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village

by William Hinton, Fred Magdoff

Overview

More than forty years after its initial publication, William Hinton’s Fanshen continues to be the essential volume for those fascinated with China’s revolutionary process of rural reform and social change. A pioneering work, Fanshan is a marvelous and revealing look into life in the Chinese countryside, where tradition and modernity have had both a complimentary and caustic relationship in the years since the Chinese Communist Party first came to power. It is a rare, concrete record of social struggle and transformation, as witnessed by a participant. Fanshen continues to offer profound insight into the lives of peasants and China’s complex social processes. Rediscover this classic volume, which includes a new preface by Fred Magdoff.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781583679975
Publisher:	Monthly Review Press
Publication date:	04/01/2008
Pages:	672
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

William Hinton (1919-2004) was a farmer in Vermont and a legendary figure in the U.S. left. He wrote many books on post-revolutionary China, including Through a Glass Darkly, Iron Oxen, The Great Reversal, Hundred Day War, Shenfan, and Turning Point in China.

Fred Magdoff taught at the University of Vermont in Burlington, is a director of the Monthly Review Foundation, and has written on political economy for many years. He is most recently the author (with John Bellamy Foster) of The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences (Monthly Review Press).

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

-,

One of the most important books about China which has been written since the Revolution. . . . For anyone who wants to understand anything important about the Chinese revolution of our time, the reading of this book is an absolute necessity.-Joseph Needham,London Tribune

A vivid and compelling 'grass-roots' account of life in the village precisely during the period in which the new Communist power was establishing itself. . . . [A] unique contribution to our understanding of life in a northern Chinese village on the eve of the Communist takeover.-Benjamin Schwartz,New York Times Book Review

Fanshen is an extraordinary book. It will dispose of many myths, both those of the Left and of the Right.-C. P. Fitzgerald,The Nation

Fanshen is an important book. . . . It is an arresting narrative [on] the agonizing story of rural China in turmoil...told with a remarkable evenness of temper and a rare understanding of human weaknesses and strengths. The lessons of Long Bow village, so movingly and compassionately recorded...should be studied and restudied by all.-C. T. Hsu,Saturday Review

Editorial Reviews

"Fanshen is an important book. . . . It is an arresting narrative [on] the agonizing story of rural China in turmoil…told with a remarkable evenness of temper and a rare understanding of human weaknesses and strengths. The lessons of Long Bow village, so movingly and compassionately recorded…should be studied and restudied by all."

Saturday Review - C. T. Hsu

...[R]ecounts the essence of the anti-imperialist, antifeudal revolution that transformed rural China in the first half of this century.

Agricultural History

"Fanshen is an extraordinary book. It will dispose of many myths, both those of the Left and of the Right."

The Nation - C. P. Fitzgerald

"One of the most important books about China which has been written since the Revolution. . . . For anyone who wants to understand anything important about the Chinese revolution of our time, the reading of this book is an absolute necessity."

London Tribune - Joseph Needham

"A vivid and compelling ‘grass-roots’ account of life in the village precisely during the period in which the new Communist power was establishing itself. . . . [A] unique contribution to our understanding of life in a northern Chinese village on the eve of the Communist takeover."

Benjamin Schwartz

Fanshen is an extraordinary book. It will dispose of many myths, both those of the Left and of the Right.-C. P. Fitzgerald, The Nation

A vivid and compelling ‘grass-roots’ account of life in the village precisely during the period in which the new Communist power was establishing itself. . . . [A] unique contribution to our understanding of life in a northern Chinese village on the eve of the Communist takeover.-Benjamin Schwartz, New York Times Book Review

One of the most important books about China which has been written since the Revolution. . . . For anyone who wants to understand anything important about the Chinese revolution of our time, the reading of this book is an absolute necessity.-Joseph Needham, London Tribune

From the Publisher