Social Transformation in Modern China by Xin Zhang - 9780521642897

Social Transformation in Modern ChinaThe State and Local Elites in Henan, 19001937\nAuthor(s): Xin Zhang\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9780521642897, 978-0521642897\nSynopsis\nThe sources and nature of China's transformation from a traditional to modern society - accelerated in the early twentieth century by the downfall of the Qing dynasty, the advent of foreign technology and increasing commercialization - are critical issues for the study of modern China. In this book, Xin Zhang uses the case of local elites and the power structure of Henan province in north-central China to demonstrate how local politics first transformed local society, challenged the state and eventually influenced change across China. Rather than focusing separately on elite mobility, social mobilization or state-making, Zhang observes changes in all three categories as interrelated aspects of a single, self-generating phe.