This book is a model study, carefully organized, richly detailed, thoroughly authentic, of a typical Chinese village in an ancient agricultural district, by an author who knows his subject intimately and who knows how to present it.

Dr. Ralph Linton of Columbia University, in his foreword, says that “Most American social scientists … know that the best way to acquire an intimate knowledge of any culture is and always will be to be reared in it. As a result they are turning more and more to individuals who were born and brought up in non-European cultures for aid in understanding these cultures. It is much easier for these persons to acquire the necessary scientific techniques for community study than it is for outsiders to