Preface
Zhou Daming
Introduction
The present book is a re-research of a Han Chinese village，applying Marxist historical materialism and cultural anthropological theory. By studying the situation and changes of the village，I hope to explore development issues concerning the countryside as well as methodology issues about social anthropology regarding the study of rural communities.
The village of my study is called the Phoenix Village，which sits in Chaozhou，Guangdong Province. The Phoenix Village is a familiar name to many sociologists and anthropologists. In the 1920s，American sociologist Daniel Harrison Kulp came to this village and conducted in-depth anthropological and sociological investigations. In 1925，he published his studies in the book titled Country Life in South China，[1]which recorded in details the situations of economy，family，religion，education，population and community organization. It is one important work in early sinological studies and has been frequently cited since its publication.
What is presented here is based on a series of field research in the Phoenix Village that was carried out in the January and December of 1995，July 1996，and the March，May and July of 1997 after the village was rediscovered in October 1994.[2]
Prelude：the resolution of an academic conundrum
As an anthropologist living in Guangdong Province，I often meet both Chinese and foreign colleagues who ask me about the current situation of the Phoenix Village. Two years ago，I came to North America as a visiting scholar and frequently encountered inquiries about the Phoenix Village. I had nothing to say since all I knew about it was bits and pieces cited in various publications. Therefore，I made up my mind to find this village and study it. Though there are many precedents of re-research，it is relatively rare to revisit a case after 80 years have elapsed. It would be very meaningful if I could find the Phoenix village and study its changes in nearly a century’s time.
At the same time，I met Professor Zhuang Yingzhang，who worked at the Institute of Ethnic Studies of the Central Research Academy of Taiwan. He shared my interest in re-researching the Phoenix Village. He had looked for the village several years before，and was led by local officials to a place called the Phoenix Township. The Phoenix Township，however，was not identical with the Phoenix Village. When he heard that I was to look for the Phoenix Village，Professor Zhuang immediately expressed his support and allocated some funds to me from his own research projects.
The promise was made，but I could not help worrying. Some American colleagues told me that Kulp had never been to the Phoenix Village himself and that the field research was done all by his students，which，if true，would make problematic the reliability of what was recorded in Kulp’s book as well as the actual existence of the Phoenix Village. Even if the Village had once existed，how much chance was there for it to survive about 80 years of drastic changes？Furthermore，even if it survived to the present day，how were we able to tell it was the Village？Therefore，our study would have to begin by resolving the academic conundrum regarding the issue if Professor Kulp had been to the Phoenix Village himself.
In 1994，we included the Phoenix Village on the list of the study sites for the Project on Comparison of Rural Cultures on the Southeast China Coast，and hence started the search for it. The search process was the following.
In October 1994，we came to Chaozhou，bringing with us the book by Professor Kulp and a detailed map that we borrowed from the Geography Department of Zhongshan University. We interviewed some people who worked at the office in charge of files，the local gazetteer office，and the committee on cultural management. There was no record of Professor Kulp’s visit. We had to rely on a sketchy map in Professor Kulp’s book and estimate that the location would be in Guihu Township，Chao’an County.
The Township Government at Guihu warmly received us. The director of the Township’s Cultural Station was designated to assist us. While we were discussing how to look for the village，the deputy chief of the Township，who was in charge of education matters，went by. As soon as he saw the pictures and maps in Kulp’s book，he said it was the village where he lived. He then put aside the book and drew a map of his village. The roads，old temples and the places for clan worships were identical with what was in the book’s map. We came to the village，and identified some places that were mentioned in the book，e.g.，the small market nearby the ferry along the Phoenix Brook，the Fuling Temple，the clan worship place for the Dai Family，and the Baoshulou Readers’ Building.
We interviewed the oldest man in the village，whose name was Dai Xiankun. He was 92 and yet healthy. He remembered well the visit by two foreigners.[3]A college student who was a member of the Dai clan led the two foreigners to the village.[4]They came in Dai Xiankun’s father’s boat. Dai Xiankun also remembered that the foreigners offered his father two silver dollars，and his father declined. Dai recognized his father in a picture in the book，and the picture was identical with the portrait in Dai’s room. At this point，we concluded that we were in the Phoenix Village and that Kulp had been here.
The following recollection by Chen Songli resolved the conundrum：“Of the western scholars who have conducted field studies of village communities in Chaozhou，Daniel Harrison Kulp II，an American professor and former dean of the Sociology Department in Hujiang University，is the pioneer. Kulp asked his students to carry out investigations according to the tables when they came home for the summer vacation in 1918 and 1919. In 1923，Kulp went to do the investigation in person and revised the preliminary study. In 1925，he sent the results to Columbia University in New York City for publication. The book，Country life in South China：the sociology of familism， is a pioneer study of village community cultures in China.”[5]
Therefore，the investigations during 1918～1919 were by Kulp’s students，while Kulp only paid a brief visit in 1923 to the Phoenix Village. The pictures and the story about visiting the Phoenix Village in the book should have been about the year of 1923. The materials were collected by students who had received sociological training and examined by Kulp，and therefore should be deemed reliable. The uncertainty surrounding his visit was caused by the fact that the book does not mention a word of his students.
The original name of the Phoenix Village was Xikou. It stands by the Phoenix Brook and looks at the Phoenix Mountain in the north. The name used by Kulp not only indicated the location of the village but also connotes the characteristics of Chinese culture. In 1997，there were 1132 villagers. The ancestors of the Dai family moved here from Jiangxi during the Song Dynasty and prospered thereafter. The villagers speak the Chao dialect. Matters of marriage，family and religious activities preserve unique local features in the Phoenix Village，and are influenced by the neighboring She ethnic group. The village maintains the major features of the time of Kulp’s study，and is an ideal site for anthropological re-research.
But a lot had changed after over 70 years. New houses were built along the highway and around the village. As a result，the old houses were still kept in the inner village. The Fuling Temple was rebuilt in the 1980s，but at a different location and with different materials. The worship place for the Dai clan was renovated in the 1990s. Parts of the old worship place were turned into factories，warehouse，and stalls. The Baoshulou Building for readers was desolate and stuffed with all kinds of things other than books. The ferry was still there，but boats had disappeared after the highway brought in the bridge over the brook. The market was no longer a market but homes for the outsiders. The Tan village was mentioned in the book as a prosperous ferry and market. It was already destroyed by the Han River，only some remnants of the old houses were in sight.
The social cultural environment changed even more dramatically. Population increased from 600 to 1100. Extended family has been replaced by core family. The old survives by seeking shelter from their children in turn. The gap became wider between population growth and land shortage. While men went to Southeast Asia for a living before，young people today migrated to the Pearl River Delta for work. The village can be reached both by land and by water. Telephones and televisions entered villagers’ home. Guihu Township extended and got closer to the boarder of the village，and created intimate interactions between town and village. Villages sold homegrown vegetables and open shops in the town. Some bought a township household registration and became factual residents in the town. Political transitions and movements left their marks in the village. The village school moved into a new building，but resumed the name it used before the Liberation. The Dai family once had many scholars. Villagers of today actively donated for the village school with the hope to regain prosperity. Committees were set up to recover records of family trees that were destroyed during the Great Cultural Revolution in order to remember ancestors and inspire descendants.
Ever since，the author has been to the Phoenix Village every year in order to finishing the re-research. This book is part of the re-research.
Main Conclusion
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[1] Kulp，Daniel Harrison. 1925. Country life in South China：the sociology of familism. Volume I. Phoenix village，Kwantung，China. New York：Bureau of Publications，Teachers College，Columbia University. In this book，I opt for the current usage “Guangdong” instead of “Kwantung”.
[2] Zhang Feng，Huang Shuping，Zhuang Yingzhang，Sun Jiuxia and other four undergraduates in the class of 1992 participated in all of the fieldwork. The data used in the present book contained their work and I am grateful to them. The author，however，was responsible for initiating the project，applying for research funds，and organizing field trips. The field trips received support from Hong Kong Zhongshan University’s Research Center in 1996～1997，from the Lingnan Foundation，and the C.C.K Foundation in Taiwan.
[3] Dai died in 1995. When we met him for the first time，he was healthy，cooked for himself，and lived with a grandson.
[4] That member was Dai Tianzong，who then worked as a senior staff in a bank in Shantou City and now resides in Hong Kong.
[5] Chen Lisong. 1995. Studies Prior to 1949 on the Clans and Village Communities in Chaozhou. Shanghai Guji Publishing House.