ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book aims to study the great rural transformation, in particular the employment transition from farm to nonfarm sectors under China's market-oriented reforms since the 1980s. It focuses on different developmental contexts, in which employment transition is a continuous process of negotiation rather than a fixed choice, evolving together with the restructuring of rural economy. The book highlights two dimensions of developmental contexts, regarding industrialization and urbanization, respectively, and the four villages under study are more or less developed regarding these two dimensions. The enhancement of women's labor participation was believed to be part of the revolutionary reconstruction of society, and gender equality in the educational system and in the labor market is closely related with the elimination of class inequalities. The book describes four village case studies based on two key modernization processes, industrialization and urbanization.
