This book presents a new perspective on attempts by the contemporary Chinese government to transform the diverse conditions found in countless rural villages into what the state's social welfare program deems 'socialist new villages'. Lili Lai argues that an ethnographic focus on the specifics of village life can help destabilize China's persistent rural-urban divide and help contribute to more effective welfare intervention to improve health and hygienic conditions of village life.

Dr. Lili Lai, Institute of Medical Humanities, guest editor of a special issue entitled "The Local Intimacies of China's Rural-Urban Divide" of Positions Volume 22, Issue 3, 2014, Duke University Press.

PREFACECHAPTER ONE: THE LOCAL INTIMACIES OF CHINA'S RURAL-URBAN DIVIDEAN OVERVIEW OF SHANG VILLAGECHAPTER TWO: DIRT, HYGIENE, HABITUSCHAPTER THREE: IMMANENT SOCIALITY: OPEN-ENDED BELONGINGCHAPTER FOUR: CULTURE PLAZA - WHY CULTURE? WHOSE PLAZA?CHAPTER FIVE: THE UNCANNY NEW VILLAGEREFERENCES