The Rural Way by Sun Jun

Title:

The Rural Way - 农道
There is no fast track to China's New Coutryside - 农道没有捷径可走新农村之路
© 2011 by: Sun Jun - 孙君

Published by:

International Publishing House for China's Culture (IPHCC)
ISBN: 978-0-9844493-9-2 [1^st Printing: May 2011, printed in China]
Later edition available from Amazon (ISBN-13: 978-7501982233)

Review:

With refreshing authenticity and engaging prose, Sun Jun reveals today's rural China and attempts at rural redevelopment. He does this by recanting episodes he's experienced (c. 2000-2010). Sun Jun takes us into rural villages where he portrays the workings of cadres and families. In the style of a historical diary, he records the group dynamics in resisting and then overcoming obstacles in the course of social, ecological, and economic progress. Sun Jun minces no words in clarifying the flaws of rural habits and urban theories. He chronicles actual experiences, failures, learnings, and successes for us to gain our own insights. I concluded that his portrayal of human foibles and their adjustment through the efforts of the group yields more insight than the pronouncements of ten thousand "Zhong Guo Tong" consultants.
Roughly three quarters of the Chinese text has corresponding English translation (the rest having abstracts). The English translation must have been true to the Chinese author's meaning and intent as the translation employs effective prose that draws comfortably on expressions that are pure English to convey feelings, deep thought, and universal humanity. The English is as readable as a finely crafted English novel! In addition to its value to sinophiles (like myself) and students (of Chinese culture and rural redevelopment), this text could serve translators of Chinese and English (both ways) to see their craft at its highest level.

Content:

Report on work done by Sun Jun for and in conjunction with Beijing Green Cross.

Table of Contents:

1 Preface: Those Who Spread the Seeds of Ecological Culture 14 Author's Preface: Thoughts on The Rural Way 29 Chapter I The Rural Way 31 The Rural Way 64 Green Cross's Rural Theory 80 Methods for Farmer Participation in New Countryside Construction 89 Three Types of People Working on New Countryside Construction 95 Walking Slowly - The "New Countryside" I See 101 Chapter II Understanding Rural China 103 Understanding Rural China 122 Chinese Cities are Just Big rurals 128 Democracy and Self-Governance in Rural China 145 When Cultural Preservation Conflicts With Industrial Planning 154 The Three Rural Issues and China's Ancient History 161 Chapter III The Wushan Model: Walking While Talking 163 Improving the Wushan Model through Practice 174 Managing Complex Relationships in YanHe Village 204 Wushan's Development Orientation: 2010-2013 211 Finding Opportunity Despite Failure and Hardship 225 Chapter IV New Countryside Construction and NGOs 227 The Path for NGOs and the Growth of Civil Society in China 253 The Integration of NGOs and Government 264 New Beginnings After Disaster
271 Chapter V The Future of Urban and Rural Ecological Civilization 273 The Vagaries of Feng Shui 291 Building Fangcheng's Garden City 204 Microorganisms Changing China's Future 211 The Post-New Countryside Era Afterward 340 The Rural Way: Rural China 101 345 推荐信 (Tuī Jiàn Xìn which translates as: "Selected Letters") 354 Acknowledgements
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