Writings of Geng Xiufeng, peasant activist and leader from the village of Wugong, China. The collection contains 55 bound, handwritten diaries and one folder of loose pages written by Geng from 1944 to 1992, documenting his reactions to agricultural reforms directed by the state.
Geng Xiufeng Diaries, 1944-1992 (MSS 718)
Extent: 3.4 Linear feet (9 archives boxes)
Geng Xiufeng was born in the village of Wugong, China, in 1913. Geng received seven years of primary education and worked in education and publishing. In the 1940s his interest in agrarian socialism led him to organize several small agricultural cooperatives. He later participated in the formation of one of the first large co-ops in his home village of Wugong and continued to promote co-op formation for many years.
In the 1980s Geng met American historian Paul Pickowicz who was interviewing North China peasants for oral history research projects. Geng shared with him volumes of his writings, which included a record of events in his life, his thoughts on state directed agricultural reforms, and letters written to powerful officials. Pickowicz used these writings as key sources for two books and several articles including: Chinese Village, Socialist State (Yale 1991) and Revolution, Resistance, and Reform in Village China (Yale, 2005).
Geng had a stroke in 1995, which forced him to stop writing. He died in 1999.
The Geng Xiufeng Diaries, comprised of 55 bound, handwritten diaries and one folder of loose pages, were written by Geng Xiufeng from 1944 to 1992. The diaries, written in Chinese, document Geng's life in the village of Wugong, China, as well as his thoughts on the government and agricultural reforms directed by the state.
Volumes were numbered by Paul Pickowicz and are arranged in numerical order by those numbers. Several of the volumes have dates in English on the cover or first page. These are noted when they occur, but may not represent the entire date range within.