FANSHEN | 1969 | WILLIAM HINTON

William Hinton’s Fanshen (1969 edition) is a seminal work of non-fiction, documenting the process of land reform in post-revolutionary China. Based on the author’s direct experience in the village of Long Bow in Shanxi province, the book provides a detailed, ground-level view of how Communist Party policies reshaped rural society. Hinton blends ethnography, political history, and social analysis, illustrating the struggles of peasants, the dismantling of feudal structures, and the contested nature of collective transformation. Its significance lies in offering Western readers an in-depth, sympathetic yet rigorously detailed account of agrarian revolution, making it a landmark in both China studies and Cold War intellectual debates.