The Spiral Road: Change in a Chinese Village through the Eyes of a Communist Party Leader

The Spiral Road has become essential reading for understanding the dramatic transformations reshaping the lives of China’s peasants. Through the eyes of Party Secretary Ye Wende, anthropologist Huang Shu-min combines a life history approach with participant observation to illustrate the path of change in a village in southeast China. Beginning with the Communist Party’s rule and Mao’s Great Leap Forward in the early 1950s to privatization and economic development in the 1990s, Huang’s compelling work unravels turbulent events that affected individuals and families in Lin Village, including government control in peasants’ daily lives. Based on the author’s continuing trips to China, the second edition provides in-depth details of the effects of change—Taiwanese investment, large-scale production, international marketing, new lifestyles—and the ongoing story of Mr. Ye: his ideas for expanding the villagers’ wealth, his manipulation in establishing lucrative businesses in Lin Village, and his arrangements to secure jobs for his family members and close kin. This multidimensional account reveals the challenges of balancing traditional customs and values with vibrant changes imposed by governing authorities.