Rebels and Revolutionaries North

Perry's concise and dense book is a useful starting point for understanding the causes of Chinese peasant rebellions in the 19th and 20th centuries. The book is particularly strong for its coverage of the Nian rebellion (1850s), and the Red Spears uprising (Republican China). Perry's main thesis is that whereas religious or millenarian visions may have contributed to the genesis of rebellion in Northern China (she is specifically interested in Huai-bei, the region between the Huai and the Yellow rivers), the real reasons for rebellious behavior must be sought in the harsh environment of that particular region, and the competition for resources among peasants. Perry distinguishes two types of rebellion - that stemming from predatory strategies of impoverished bandits, and that resulting from protective strategies of the well-to-do. In a sense, Perry's book only states the obvious: peasants revolt because they are poor and they have nothing to eat, or their existence is threatened by an external force. Perry adds to this a drop of environmental determinism by connecting the cycles of poverty to the environmental conditions of a particular Chinese region (by the way, she denies she is an environmental determinist in the book). Of course, this environmental explanation raises as many questions as it provides answers. In China's long history peasant rebellions erupted in many other areas, not just Huai-bei; in some cases, poverty or economic dislocation was a real issue but this poverty and economic dislocation did not necessarily, and did not always, result from ecological disasters. In short, a good book, a bit dry and overly analytical in a sense but makes for a good discussion.