"Gates is a Marxist anthropologist with chutzpah. Best known for her compelling portrayal of contemporary working-class Taiwanese, she considerably broadens and deepens her analysis of China's socioeconomy in this work." ChoiceThis monumental work reveals the continuities that underlie the changing surface of Chinese life from late imperial days to modern times. With a perspective that encompasses a thousand years of Chinese history, China's Motor provides a view of the social, economic, and political principles that have prompted people in widely varying circumstances to act, believe, and...
"Gates is a Marxist anthropologist with chutzpah. Best known for her compelling portrayal of contemporary working-class Taiwanese, she considerably br...
For decades, anthropologist Hill Gates had waited for an opportunity to get to know the citizens of China as she had done in Taiwan face to face, over an extended period of time. At last in the late 1980s she set out on an excursion to Sichuan Province. That visit was the first of many she would make there on a remarkable double adventure: to gain a deeper understanding of Chinese women and to complete a difficult passage in her own life. Looking for Chengdu is her memoir of these trips. By turns analytic, witty, and bittersweet, Gates's observations on contemporary China are enlivened by a...
For decades, anthropologist Hill Gates had waited for an opportunity to get to know the citizens of China as she had done in Taiwan face to face, over...
When Chinese women bound their daughters' feet, many consequences ensued, some beyond the imagination of the binders and the bound. The most obvious of these consequences was to impress upon a small child's body and mind that girls differed from boys, thus reproducing gender hierarchy. What is not obvious is why Chinese society should have evolved such a radical method of gender-marking. Gendering is not simply preparation for reproduction, rather its primary significance lies in preparing children for their places in the division of labor of a particular political economy.
Drawing...
When Chinese women bound their daughters' feet, many consequences ensued, some beyond the imagination of the binders and the bound. The most obviou...
Footbinding was common in China until the early twentieth century, when most Chinese were family farmers. Why did these families bind young girls' feet? And why did footbinding stop? In this groundbreaking work, Laurel Bossen and Hill Gates upend the popular view of footbinding as a status, or even sexual, symbol by showing that it was an undeniably effective way to get even very young girls to sit still and work with their hands.
Interviews with 1,800 elderly women, many with bound feet, reveal the reality of girls' hand labor across the North China Plain, Northwest China, and...
Footbinding was common in China until the early twentieth century, when most Chinese were family farmers. Why did these families bind young girls' ...
Taiwan's working class has been shaped by Chinese tradition, by colonialism, and by rapid industrialization. This book defines that class, explores that history, and presents with sensitive honesty the life experiences of some of its women and men. Hill Gates first provides a solid and informative introduction to Taiwan's history, showing how...
Taiwan's working class has been shaped by Chinese tradition, by colonialism, and by rapid industrialization. This book defines that class, explores th...
