From the perspective of village activists across China, this book tells the stories of farmers and rural laborers who raised the banner of opposition to constitutional reform during the first decade of the twentieth century. Using county archives-including oral histories-as well as memoirs, periodical literature, missionary records, and official documents both Chinese and foreign, Of Camel Kings and Other Things constructs, from fragmented sources, a coherent historical view vital to our understanding of China's twentieth-century crises and the dilemmas of modernity itself.

Roxann Prazniak is assistant professor of history at the Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon, and the author of Dialogues Across Civilizations: Sketches in World History from the Chinese and European Experiences.

Chapter 1 Prologue Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 Anti-New Policy Rural Activism in Historical Context: Taiping and Boxer Preludes Chapter 4 Laiyang, Shandong: Qu Shiwen and the Four Mountains Chapter 5 Excerpt from Water Margin Chapter 6 Zunhua, Zhili: Camel King Wang at the Foot of the Great Wall Chapter 7 Excerpt from Three Kingdoms Chapter 8 Weiyuan, Sichuan: Heaven-Protected Liu Xiangting Among the Red Lanterns Chapter 9 Excerpt from Journey to the West Chapter 10 Lianzhou, Guangdong: The Greenwood, Tongmenghui Alliance Chapter 11 Chuansha, Jiangsu: Ding Fei and Her Vegetarian Sisterhood in Resistance to Reform Chapter 12 Conclusion Chapter 13 Epilogue Chapter 14 Glossary