ABSTRACT
We are now in the midst of the future of which Malinowski wrote. If we ignore the reference to the Trobrianders (who generously provide opportunities to present-day anthropologists for fruitful non-field work), some of us might well say that the prophecy erred only in suggesting that we are e q u a l l y interested in savagery and civilization. The bold ones among us might not be shy to confess that Hindus and Chinese seem rather more interesting than Australian aborigines. This is the point from which I start. Since the thirties a number of Chinese, British, and American anthropologists-let us call them 'social', most of them will not object -have tried to study Chinese society. What can we learn from their efforts to go beyond
From British Journal o f Sociology, 14 ( 1963): 1-19. Copyright © 1963 by Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd. Reprinted by permission of the publisher and the author. Maurice Freedman is Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics.
