This book approaches the issue of rural-urban inequality through fieldwork conducted in a
specific township (Zuogang) in Qinggang County part of Heilongjiang Province in northeastern
China. Presenting painstaking fieldwork in a single location it successfully illuminates
fundamental aspects of the reality and the complexity of rural-urban inequality that cannot be
found in macro-level studies most of which are prepared by economists. The book offers a
unique combination of rigorous economic analysis with insightful social and anthropological
analysis as well as revealing interviews with local government officials. This approach
provides a rich tapestry of rural perceptions of rural-urban inequality. With in-depth analysis
and empirical evidence on questions concerning the development and root causes of urban-rural
disparities the book significantly enriches our understanding of the widely discussed issue of
rural-urban income inequality but from the unique perspective of rural China.
