Will the Boat Sink the Water: The Life of China's Peasants

(Paperback)

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Description

The Chinese Economic miracle is happening despite, not because of, Chinas 900 million peasants. They are missing from the portraits of booming Shanghai, or Beijing. Many of Chinas underclass live under a feudalistic system unchanged since the fifteenth century. Wu Chuntao and Chen Guidi undertook a three-year survey of what had happened to the peasants in one of the poorest provinces, Anhui, asking the question: have the peasants been betrayed by the revolution undertaken in their name by Mao and his successors The result is a brilliant narrative of life among the poor, a vivid portrait of the petty dictators that run Chinas villages and counties, and the consequences of their bullying despotism on the people they administer.

Reviews

"A banned book whose publication is compared to a clap of thunder... delves deeply into the rural conundrum that continues to bedevil China's Communist Party leaders"
"Among the most explosive books in recent years."
Banned in China: "A heartbreaking tale of what can happen when ordinary Chinese try to demand justice and accountability from their leaders."

Author Bio

Wu Chuntao was born in the Hunan province of China in 1963. Her husband, Chen Guidi, was born in 1943 in the Chinese province of Anhui. Both come from peasant families. Wu and Chen are members and respected writers of the Hefei Literature Association.Mr. Chen received the Lu Xun Literature Achievement Award -- one of the most important literary prizes in China. Both authors have received awards from the journal Contemporary Age for groundbreaking reportage.