The republican era and the emergence of communist leadership during the anti-Japanese war of resistance -- The ascent of the vigilante militia : the violent antecedents of Mao's war communism -- The onset of collectivization and popular dissatisfaction with Mao's "yellow bomb" road -- The...

"The gap between those living in the city and those in the countryside remains one of China's most intractable problems. As this powerful work of grassroots history argues, the origins of China's rural-urban divide can be traced back to the Mao Zedong era. While Mao pledged to remove the gap...