The Journals Zhongguo xiangcun yanjiu and Rural China: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract Rural China has long been a rather sensitive subject within China. For that reason, our Chinese journal Zhongguo xiangcun yanjiu on rural China, published inside China, has faced some serious difficulties. By contrast, the bilingual international version of our journal Rural China: An International Journal of History and Social Science , published by E. J. Brill in the Netherlands, has long been very stable. In recent years, the Chinese countryside has in fact seen substantial new accomplishments and development. Today, the subject of “rural China” actually needs fundamental rethinking to incorporate the new developments that have occurred. It also requires that we pay attention to the multiple forces and influences that have come from outside the ruralities —— we must no longer “simply study rural China qua rural China.”