All Under Heaven

One of the oldest Chinese peasant wisdoms is reflected in the proverb: “A true hero knows how to duck punches.” All Under Heaven shows how the villagers of Long Bow coped with many sudden shifts in government policy since 1949.

"All Under Heaven is a compressed social history of Long Bow over the past few decades. Village elders recount tales of famine, drought, disease, and exploitation before explicating various shifts in the political line - from the land reforms of 1949 and the collectivization of the early 50s, through the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the current Four Modernizations. (The latest developments, encouraging household farming, are not universally appreciated: 'Now even if you sleep till noon no one will bug you - you'll just go hungry.')

"Replete with village rituals (including funerals, markets, and playing Ping-Pong on a round stone table with a brick 'net'), All Under Heaven gives you an appreciation for the successive waves of Chinese history."

J. Hoberman, Village Voice, Sept. 10, 1985

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