Chang Liu is Senior Research Fellow at the Center for New Political Economy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

1. Comparison of Rural Communities between the North China Plain and the Yangzi Delta 2. State and Rural Society in the Late Qing 3. Mobilization and Reorganization of Village Communities in North China 4. The State and North China Villages in a Changing World 5. The Communists and North China Villages 6. Social Structure and Local Politics in the Yangzi Delta 7. State and Society in the Yangzi Delta Countryside: The Republican Period 8. The Communists and the Yangzi Delta Countryside

This book explores rural political change in China from 1850 to 1949 to help us understand China's transformation from a weak, decaying agrarian empire to a unified, strong nation-state during this period.