Analysis of China's Urban Villagers: Life in a Beijing Commune - Book Report/Review Example

Anthropology, Book Report/Review   CONTENT OF THE BOOKThis book is a historically driven case study of the altering lives of peasants in a Southeast China village subsequent to the 1949 Communist Revolution. It shows how Southeast China was moderately well economically developed, particularly the locale by the side of the Fujian and Guangdong province’s coastal regions. This book portrays life in a tiny village inside the borders of a large state farm on Beijing’s outskirts. It covers the impacts and effects of industrialization and mechanization, education and socialization, attempts at modernization, and the villagers’ response to political realities in a state of socialist.

This edition integrates the uprising in China and the catastrophic happenings at the square of Tiananmen Square. It talks about how people’s livelihood is so standardized, that, above, they do not have adequate wealth to provide for their parents, and, below, they do not have sufficient wealth to provide for their children and wives.‎ It reveals how during the years of famine and calamities, the weak and the old people, who were found lying in the water-channels and ditches increased tremendously.

It also talks about how the able-bodied, who had been distributed to the four quarters, had summed up to thousands. In spite of the good years, their lives are constantly became disillusioned, and, in bad years, they did not escape dying. In circumstances like these, they only tried to save themselves from death, and were terribly afraid that they would not be successful. (Norman page 54).I t shows how the rents, which were collected from the trust land, were used to finance the rites of the ancestral.

The funds which remained were used to offer a feast for the entire descendants of Lin, called chizu, "consuming the ancestors," according to the local vernacular. In case there was any money that remained after the feast, it was utilized to buy pork that was to be split among the entire Lin’s male descendants. It talks about a scholar among the Lins, the grandfather to Chenghu, who proposed that a channel be dug at the shrine’s rear so that the flowing water would be directed away from it.

The proposal was agreed upon by the elders of Lin, who sent a number of manual workers to dig the ditch. It states that when the laborers dug the ground at the shrine’s rear, they scooped into a little spring that gushed out red water, which was bloodlike that saturated the surrounding soil.‎ ‎In spite of considerable developments in the region, it was continuously under the double pressures of overpopulation and insufficient farmland. It further explains how the inhabitants were affected by the enormous rural poor departure from this region to Taiwan, North America, and Southeast Asia all through much of the period of the late imperial.

It shows the manner in which they were influenced by the complicated system of land tenancy, which frequently engaged above half of the population of the farm. (Www.amazon.com).All this was changed by the triumphant Communist Revolution. Because of this, tenancy of land was done away with, and the 1950-1951 Land Reform gave a lot of poor tenants their own private land. Before they even began to take pleasure in the revolution’s fruits, they started to experience hindrances. The rural populations were confined in their geographic movement domestically and across international margins.

All of a sudden, the peasants turned into underclass that was land-bound, with few opportunities for either geographic or social mobility. Gender RoleIt talks about the roles of men in the society. The men had the role of providing for their parents at all times. They were also supposed to support and provide for both their children and wives. It was also the roles of strong men to work in the farms and to perform manual duties. CultureThere was persistence of some traditional values and beliefs amongst the society.

There was a belief such as the filial piety. Filial piety is the principal duty and significant virtue of care, obedience and respect for one's mother and father, and any other elderly members of the family. There was also the idyllic extended family, ancestral worship and geomancy. Furthermore, it was the culture of the society that made them prefer to have male over female children.Culture ChangeThe concept of culture change is evident where the Government tried to use coercion and intimidation to make people change their traditional practices and beliefs.

It is stated in the book that the Government was successful in doing this during some Communist rule periods. Even though, this happened, the peasants hurriedly slipped back to their old practices beliefs and practices once these stern policies were relaxed. The Chinese Government feel that all these traditional cultures are obstacles for realizing and achieving visionary goals, and often try as hard as possible to eliminate them. In the name of revolution, the Government tries to impose new values and practices, derived from the ruling elite’s vision, from the top onto the peasants.

They are then forced to conform to these new practices and social ways.ConclusionI feel as though the Government were laying tough and unnecessary force in trying to probe the peasants to adopt new cultural practices and beliefs. Even though, they used much force, I believe that they would achieve the visionary goals that they had through the new practices. When it comes to gender role, I do not agree with the role that the men were given. I do not believe that men should feed both their children and wives.

When it comes to feeding their parents, it is okay to feed them and support them fully. As for their wives, they should also work hard and at least try to feed their kids too. I feel that the peasants had a difficult time with their Government, and the stern policies that were laid upon them, forcefully. It was generally an unfair treatment that the peasants had to go through, having to evade deaths which were common phenomena.Work cited"China's Urban Villagers: Life in a Beijing Commune (Case studies in cultural anthropology): Norman A.

Chance: 9780030603297: Amazon.com: Books." Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .Chance, Norman A. China's Urban Villagers: Changing Life in a Beijing Suburb. Fort Worth: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1991. Print.