On the Context of China from the Perspective of Local China

Modern people say that everyone in the village is local, which usually means contempt. This word "local" is very appropriate. At the beginning of the book, Mr. Fei Xiaotong wrote: "From the grassroots point of view, China society is local."

"Earth" is the first characteristic of local China. Unlike nomads who follow the grass, villagers in China are deeply rooted in the land, which is their lifeblood. Sunrise, sunset, sowing in spring and harvesting in autumn are all closely related to this land.

Another characteristic of native China is ignorance. They are illiterate and lack a deep understanding of modern technology. They usually rely on the experience of several generations of ancestors or neighbors to solve a problem. However, the lack of knowledge caused by the relatively closed environment in rural areas is not stupid, but determined by its own nature.

"Private" is another characteristic of local China, which only cares about the snow in front of one's own house and doesn't care about frost on others' tiles, but this kind of private exists not only among villagers, but also in cities. Why does this feature exist? In fact, it has something to do with China's social structure influenced by Confucian ethics for thousands of years. Fei Xiaotong compared China society to a circle of ripples thrown by a stone. Everyone is the center of this circle, and the circles cross each other, so the human society in China is built.

In China, family members may not only refer to your parents and children, but also include your grandparents, grandparents and aunts. Not only that, people in the network formed by some kind of connection will also be called family. However, China's flexible kinship network makes the boundary between public and private blurred, and it is difficult to distinguish between rights and obligations.

The book Native China analyzes the structure and true colors of rural society in China from the aspects of rural community, cultural inheritance, family system, moral concept, power structure, social norms and social changes. Although the modern society has undergone earth-shaking changes, the discussion of local culture in the book makes us know our roots clearly and clarify the context of China society.