"For a woman to be without ability is a virtue" is a view attributed to Confucius but still very much alive in contemporary China. It is a paradox--a proposition widely accepted as true by both women and men but in practice denied in the conduct of everyday life. The author explores the recreation of this paradox in the processes of rural reform in China during the 1980's. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution and the rejection of collectivism, the Chinese leadership initiated a series of rural policy changes that included the transfer of collective resources to individuals, households, or...