Social Transformation in Modern China

The sources and nature of China''s transformation from a traditional to a 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.