Books by Lucien Bianco

Exploring the question of whether China's peasantry was a revolutionary force, this volume pays particular attention to the first half of the 20th century, when peasant-based conflict was central to nationwide revolutionary processes. It traces key themes of social conflict and peasant resistance.

Bianco focuses on "spontaneous" rural unrest, uninfluenced by revolutionary intellectuals. The author shows that predominant forms of protest were directed not against the landowning class but against state agents, and suggests that 20th-century Chinese peasants were less different from 17th- or 18th-century French peasants than might be imagined.