This book explores Shimenkan—a Miao-inhabited area in Weining County, China—and its rural society from a comprehensive and long-term perspective, drawing on research conducted by the author in the course of ten years. Located in the northwest of Weining County in Guizhou Province, Shimenkan is a multiethnic area, where, e.g., the Hans, Miaos, Yis, Huis, and Buyis live. Until the early twentieth century, it was a small mountain village; the introduction of Christianity led to significant cultural and social changes in this area.Focusing on China in the twentieth century, the book addresses...