This Discussion Paper documents a survey conducted in rural China in 2005. A multi-topic survey funded by the Sino-German international Training Program "Sustainable Resource Use in North China", the project covers farm management, land property rights and rural credit access on the North China...

Introduction: The great agrarian conquest -- Masculine paternalism and colonial governance -- How villages were found -- In search of tenures -- The power of categories -- Codifying custom -- Remembered pasts -- Beyond the code -- Fear of the fragment -- Colonising the commons -- The promise of...