Will the Boat Sink the Water?: The Life of China's Peasants (43 page)

translato r’s

acknowledgment

My deepest thanks to my agent, Joanne Wang. She was the driving force that linked up the publisher, the authors, and me, the translator, and made this book possible. She was always there for me with sound advice, and supported me all the way to the finish.

Thanks also to Clive Priddle and the PublicAffairs editorial staff, without whose guidance this translation would not have be satisfactorily completed.

Thanks to the Humanities Foundation and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Boston University for their support, as I struggled to work on this translation and teach full-time during my last semester.

Special thanks to Professor Joe Fewsmith of the International Program at Boston University, for his generosity in sharing with me his keen scholarship, his acute insights, and even his books. Also, thanks for the support of my colleagues at the Chinese program of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures: Xiaoyang Zhou, who read the original book and spent time with me in many stimulating discussions; Mingjiang Li, who was always ready to share his insights on the peasant

translator’s acknowledgment

problem when I buttonholed him in the department common room; Hsiao-chih Chang, who was so quick to elucidate points of language; and Binglin Zhao, who offered a helping hand whenever I needed it.

Thanks to my old friend Carol Susan Meuser, part of my “Rhode Island family.” Through the years she found time in her crowded schedule to read my drafts and give me her opinion, and she hit the nail on the head every time.

Thanks to the “Omaha branch” of my family: my son, Difei, who would come up with the right word when it persisted in eluding me; and my daughter-in-law, Jessica, who put up with my highs and lows as I struggled through the final phase of the translation.

Last but not least, deepest thanks to Xiaohui, my “Anhui family,” who read the original when it first appeared and exclaimed, “This is exactly the situation in our village, except that there is no one willing to risk his life to speak out.” Xiaohui, you taught me to be humbly grateful to the peasants of China, to whom we all owe so much.

Zhu Hong
Omaha October 2005

index

Abortions, 101, 153, 157

Administration, township, 149–150,

170–174

Agriculture, xi, xii, 6, 7.
See also
Grain;

Land

collectivization and, xvii, 145–148, 171, 214

Economic Committee of Anhui, 103, 174, 182, 187–188

international, 204

migrant workers leaving, 199–204, 208

Ministry of, 102–103, 104, 105, 126,

modernization of, 204

planting in, 38, 67, 95–96, 139, 145,

148, 164, 179–182, 193

production shifts in, 147, 150–151

reform, 171, 172, 214–219

in Triple-Agri problems, xi, xii, xv Anfeng Pond Township, 178–180 Anhui Province, xviii–xix, xxi, 137.
See

also specific townships; specific villages

Agricultural Economic Committee, 103, 174, 182, 187–188

High Court of, 185–186 household-contract system in, 140,

migrant workers from, 199–203 population of, 199–200, 203

reform in, 140–144

representation in, 177

Anticorruption bureau, 163–169

“Antirightist movement,” 146

Army, 7, 54, 65, 94, 133, 154, 175, 184

Audit, financial

by anticorruption bureau, 163–169 general, 30–31

Luying Village, 5, 9, 11, 12–14, 17,

18, 20–21

Wang Village, 106–107

Zhang Village, 29–37, 42, 44, 47–49,

51–52, 57, 59, 60, 61

Baimiao Township incident, xiii–xiv, 94–129, 210

Beijing

appeals made to, 81–82, 100–108,

112, 115–116, 119, 120, 122, 123,

124–127, 128, 210

migrant workers in, 201, 205

representation in, 177

Bengbu, 44, 46, 57, 133, 141

Intermediate Court, 50–54, 62 Birth(s).
See also
Family planning

birth-control and, 38, 153, 155, 156,

one-child policy on, 8, 11, 13, 24, 33,

38, 101, 124, 127, 155, 156–157

quotas, 157

women dying during, ix

Books, banned, x, xiii–xiv, xviii–xix, xix Buck, Pearl,
The Good Earth
by, xxi Burden, peasants’.
See
Tax burden, peasants’

Bureaucracy, xx, 169–175, 216, 217–218.
See also
Administration, township

Capitalism, 144, 148

Central government.
See
State Council (central government)

Changfeng County, 187–188, 191–198

index

Chen Heping, 185

Chen Junsheng, 20, 21

Chen Xiaoming, 181–182 Childbirth.
See
Births

Cities.
See
Urban areas;
specific cities

Clan, power of, 37, 49

Collectivization, xvii, 145–148, 171, 214

Communes, 145–147, 149, 150, 171,

Communism, entry into, 146–147 Communist Party Central Committee,

59–60, 67, 68, 70, 173

Baimiao Township incident and, 99, 100–101, 102, 115–116, 126

Ding Zuoming and, 19–26, 45, 46

expulsion and, 94–95

leadership of, 137

Propaganda Department of, xiii

on Shensai Village incident, 134, 136

on tax relief, 138–139, 140, 141, 143,

on township administration, 170 on township debt, 183

Zhang Village and, 45–46, 136

Construction business, 200, 201, 203,

Corruption, xiv, xix, xxii, 7–8, 9, 163–169.
See also
Extortion; Tax burden, peasants’

Court(s), xiv, xix

Anhui High, 185–186

on Baimiao Township incident, 120–124, 126

Bengbu Intermediate, 50–54, 62 on Ding Zuoming, 25–26 Huainan Intermediate, 185, 186 libel suit in, xiii–xv

power of, 54–55

on unpaid bills, 185–186

Zhang Village and, 39, 40, 43, 44,

50–54, 55, 62

Cultural Revolution, xvii–xviii, 86, 94,

119, 148, 184, 188, 191, 192–196,

Dai Wenhu, 10–13, 21, 25 Dang Guoyin, xiii, 60–61 Death(s), 84, 146

of Ding Zuoming, 3–26 execution, xvii, 135–136

sentence, 25, 50, 135–136

Shensai Village, 134–136

starvation, 147–148, 164

suicide, 94, 125, 141, 146, 156

Zhang Village, 32, 34–38, 40–62, 136

Debt, township, 72, 179–188

Democracy and Law,
53, 61

Dickens, Charles,
A Tale of Two Cities

by, 219

Ding Yanle, 3, 11–15, 17, 18, 26

Ding Zuoming, 3–26, 45, 46

Dinner party, revolution as, 184, 188

Disciplinary Committees, Party, 22, 105,

106, 108, 126–127, 149, 168, 185,

Dong Yingfu, 7–8, 9, 13

Dongliu Village, 83, 85, 86, 87–89, 159 Dragon Boat Festival, 61–62

Drought, 29, 119, 192–196

Du Rensheng, 214

Eating/drinking, at public expense, 184–188

Economic issues, xi, xix.
See also
Tax burden, peasants’; Taxes; Workers

sanctions and, 145

solutions for, 214–219 urban/rural, xviii, xx, 150–151,

175–178, 203–207, 215, 217, 218

Education, 3–4, 4, 37, 51, 82, 137, 143,

150, 153, 154, 168, 173, 175, 176,

Elections, 129, 134, 167–169, 180, 210

“Eliminate blind spots” campaign, 178–180

Embezzlement, 8, 11, 30, 39, 57, 134,

Executions.
See
Deaths

Extortion, 8, 97, 103, 106, 133–136,

138, 141, 151–158, 171, 207–209

Family planning, 137, 150, 155, 168

Famine, 95, 204

Feixi County, 147

Fengmiao Township, 66, 74, 76, 77, 80,

82–83, 84, 87, 159, 209–210

Fengyang County, 82, 147

Floods, 5, 8, 56, 95, 133, 191, 192, 196

Four pariah categories, 43

Fuyang Prefecture, 25, 95, 141, 202

Gaixia, 65

Gao Chuanming, 159

Gao, Granny, 68–78, 84

Gao Guanghua, 75–76

Gao Jianjun, 96–97, 127

Gao Village, 66–89, 139, 159–160, 162,

Gao Xuewen, 66, 68–69, 70, 73, 74, 75,

77–78, 84

Gao Zongpeng, 71, 76, 77, 80, 81, 82,

84–85, 88, 89

GDP (Gross Domestic Product), 202 Ge Renjiang, 55, 56

Global power, rising, xix Grain, 16, 146, 149

distribution, 176

production, 147, 148

quotas, 192–194

rations, 6

stores, 114, 121, 124, 159, 160, 161,

tax, 37–38, 48

Great Leap Forward, 145, 146–147,

Gross Domestic Product.
See
GDP

index

Guo Jinlong, xv

Guzhen County, 29, 30–31, 46, 55, 57,

Han Chunsheng, 97, 122

Han Dynasty, 54, 65–66, 174–175

Handing Township, 174

Harvard University, research by, xxi He Xilai, xii

Health care, ix, xxi, 14, 17, 55, 149,

Hefei, xiv, 23, 104–105, 179, 197–199,

Henan Province, 93, 110, 113–116, 117,

119, 121, 123, 136, 138, 174, 177,

Hou Chaojie, 66, 80, 85–86, 87, 88

Household-contract system, 140, 142,

Hu Jintao, xx

Huagou Township, 181–182

Huai River, xxi, xxii, 3, 29, 56, 133,

161–162, 163, 191, 196

Huaibei city, 167, 169

Huainan Intermediate Court, 185, 186 Huan Kuan,
On Salt and Iron
by, 54 Huang Tongwen, 191–199

Huang Wei, 23

Huangyu Village, 162, 191–192

Hubei Province, 136, 137, 138, 199

Hunan Province, 136, 138, 199

“Image projects,” 180–182 Income

average monthly, 215

per capita, 5, 96, 151

taxes, xx, 56, 137–138, 139, 155

urban v. rural, 150–151 Industrialization/industry, 144, 145, 149,

170, 173, 200, 208.
See also

Modernization

Inequality, rural/urban, 177–178,

203–207, 217

Japan, 8, 72, 173, 204

Ji Hongli, 15–16, 25

Jiang Zemin, 70, 117

Jiangsu Province, 67, 133

Jiangxi Province, 177, 197

Jiao Yulu, 174

“Judge Bao,” 22

Kang Zichang, 8, 13, 25

Kong Xiangying, 19–20, 22

Labor force.
See
Workers Land

collectivization of, xvii, 145–148, 171,

decollectivization, 73, 214

ownership, 214, 215

in Zhang Dayu Village, 164–165 Legal system.
See
Courts

Lenin, Vladimir, 144

Li Changping, 137, 217–218

Li Changzhou, 84

Li Peng, 70

Li Renhu, 55, 56

Li Shaobai, 169–170

Li Xiangang, 23

Li Xinwen, 125 Libel suit, xiii–xv

Lingbi County, 65, 66, 80, 81–82, 83,

84, 159, 209–210

Linquan County, 93–95, 98–101,

103–105, 110, 112, 114–126, 129,