Frederick C. Teiwes and Warren Sun are justly famous for their many thoroughly researched books and articles on Chinese elite politics. This volume looks at the crucial years between 1976 and 1981 when the first steps were taken towards the decollectivization that would fundamentally change the organization of Chinese agriculture and rural life.

Using a broad range of sources, the authors discuss and revise several established truths about the first stages of rural reform. In particular, they offer a new understanding of the roles played by Deng Xiaoping and Hua Guofeng. According to their detailed and convincing analysis, the conflict between these two top leaders did not reflect fundamentally different attitudes to rural reforms. When Deng took over the role as paramount leader from Hua in 1978, it “… had nothing to do with policy disputes, but everything to do with historical status in the CCP” (p. 3). Deng did not start out with a master plan for abandoning collective agriculture and Hua was not a die-hard Maoist determined to defend the status quo in rural China. The nuanced picture of Hua Guofeng that emerges from this book is a valuable corrective to scholarship following the official Chinese reform narrative.

This and other arguments are systematically substantiated in five chronologically arranged chapters. Chapter one covers the period from Mao's death to the summer of 1978. Political discussions at this time focused on the Dazhai model for collective agriculture, and Hua Guofeng played a leading role in promoting policies designed to reduce the economic burdens of the peasants. Chapter two looks at the last two months of 1978, including the Third Plenum in December and the five-week work conference leading up to it. Chapter three shows that up to the end of 1979 the top leaders were generally satisfied with the results of the pro-peasant policies designed by Hua, while the household responsibility system was moving up the political agenda. Developments in 1980 are covered in chapter four, which includes a detailed discussion of Zhao Ziyang's decisive role in rural reform based on his intimate knowledge of conditions on the ground. Chapter five follows the complicated political process leading to the publication of the famous 1982 Document no. 1, which opened the door wide for household farming.

The road leading to Document no. 1 was not straight and the result was not pre-determined. Teiwes and Sun show in minute detail how the key players formed their positions on household farming based on different inputs. A particular strength of the book is that it demonstrates the significant role played by provincial level leaders in the rural reform process. At least up to 1981, the basic assumption in the Party leadership “… was that agriculture was ultimately a matter for the provinces, and the provinces had to be supportive if any change were to be viable” (p. 275). A continuous exchange of opinions, a “conversation” as the authors call it, was therefore going on between the provinces and the centre. Variations in provincial leaders’ attitudes to household contracting and to the general direction and speed of reforms partly reflected the different economic, social and agricultural conditions of their provinces, but personal ties to central leaders also played a significant role, as did ideological preferences. There was even less consensus among cadres at the sub-provincial level where opinions were divided all way down to communes and brigades.

An issue that has received particular attention in the academic literature on the early phases of rural reforms is the role of peasant grassroots activism in decollectivization. Teiwes and Sun argue that while the pressure from below was an essential factor in some places, the situation is “… better conceived of as peasants in specific places undertaking secret actions that attracted (usually negative) official attention” (p. 281, italics in original). Other peasants worried about what the dissolution of the collectives would mean to their families, so until the impressive production success in 1982, villagers were just as divided in their opinions as were the basic level cadres.

The written sources used in this study are many and diverse, as indicated by the 26 pages of bibliography divided into 17 categories. On top of this come interviews with Chinese Party historians and other academics as well as with people who had close relations to the key political actors. These interviews provide substantial inside information about the positions and inclinations of key political actors and bring life and details to the historical narrative. Of course, interviews conducted two decades after the events must be used with care, but the authors cautiously discuss the possible limitations of their sources.

The book is not an easy read. It takes a considerable knowledge about Chinese political history for granted and would be difficult to use in undergraduate courses. It is, however, full of important arguments and fascinating details that both historians and political scientists will enjoy.