Retrospection on Collectivization

Chief Editor: Xing Long
Publisher: Commercial Press

Retrospection on Collectivization, edited by Professor Xing Long, collected the research results of Xing and his team on social history during the collectivization period. The book is divided into seven categories according to methodological viewpoints, literal narration, models and examples, production innovation, identity and life, and fields and society.

In general, the book has the following distinctive characteristics. First, it emphasizes the importance of collecting, identifying and using materials. As Xing points out in the prologue, they started their work by saving archival documents, and now nearly 10,000 documents from more than 200 villages have been gathered and piled into 240 cabinets. Since 2007, the team have constantly published a series of papers on the archives of Shanxi rural areas and related research methodology. Among them is “Rural Grassroots Files from the Coleectivization Era: Archives of the Chinese Social History Research Center of Shanxi University,” which first defined the collectivization period to be the period from the launch of the mutual-aid team during the Anti-Japanese War to the collapse of the people’s communes. The paper also laid out the archives the team had collected in regard to Shanxi village communes and production teams.

Second, the book covers a broad range of issues. In 2009, Xing published the article “From above to below: Research Angle of Social History in Chinese Rural Communities,” which is the first piece in the book and also brought forth the core concept. In terms of research objects, villages that were well-known nationwide during the collectivization period, such as Dazhai, Xigou, Daquanshan and Zhangzhuang, as well as key figures like Li Shunda, a national model worker, are included. In addition, the book pays attention to the elements of rural daily life, covering everything from barbers to winter study movement. Meanwhile, political and economic movements and operation mechanisms that had huge impacts on people’s daily lives are analyzed. These include the “save-one-self via production” campaign in the Taihangshan base area, the locust disaster and social response, women’s liberation, socialist education movement and other mechanisms that shaped local official groups.

Third, academic innovation is seen in ideas, methods and materials. In terms of idea innovation, the book studies social history by using a contemporary history research paradigm. This differs from traditional Chinese history research methods. As for methodological reflection, many articles in the book examined the formation, characteristics and usage of the archives of Shanxi rural areas and came up with many new questions worthy of further investigation. Last but not least, material selection focused on issues of livelihood, breaking the stereotype that the collectivization period valued political movement and neglected social life. For example, the article titled “From Childcare Center during the Farming Busy Season to the Model Kindergarten: Childcare System during the Collectivization Period in Shanxi” details how the welfare systemwas introduced in order to liberate female labor in the early years of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.