A. The relationship between city and countryside in China has been changing for a long time, and so has the nature of inequality in Chinese society. It is generally agreed that inequality between city and countryside increased in the socialist era, when the state concentrated on urban development and left the villages to be self-reliant, while preventing migration through the hukou system. Now, however, things are changing. Hundreds of millions of village-born people have worked in cities at one time or another, strengthening the ties between city and countryside, while at the same time, statistics show that measures of rural-urban inequality, such as income differentials, have widened.

Perhaps in response to these developments, the Chinese government has recently started a program called "rural-urban unification," trying to address rural-urban inequality and keep the rural areas from emptying out. Using your readings about rural and urban life, including the case studies of village phenomena we read for the last unit, the depictions of urban life in Zhang Li's In Search of Paradise and Vanessa Fong's Only Hope, plus films and lectures, make a list of the ways in which rural and urban life differ from each other, and for each item on the list, state what you think would have to be changed if the goal of "rural-urban unification" were to be achieved.

B. Consider the two books about Chinese cities you have read or are reading for this course: Only Hope and In Search of Paradise. They portray people in cities thousands of kilometers apart, but both engaged in various ways in aspirations to be "middle class" or educated or, in more general terms, respectable. At the same time, you have also read about the problems that rural people encounter in just trying to get along, whether they stay in the village or migrate to the city where they become, literally, second-class citizens. Quite naturally, although the lives of the middle class and the people of rural origins are very different, there are bound to be connections between them. Explore the following questions:

• Is the middle-class livelihood of the Dalian and Kunming families dependent on the exploitation of labor of migrants and rural people? If so how; if not, why not? Consider both direct and indirect ways in which the high urban standard of living might be dependent on keeping the rural standard low.
• If China were to reform its hukou system, how might this affect the abilities of the urban and rural populations to meet their aspirations? Be realistic, don't just say that because they have equal rights they will end up having equal opportunities; we know this is not true in the US and have no reason to think it would be true elsewhere.

Essays should be between 1500 and 2000 words in length, not counting references. You may use any style (footnotes, endnotes, or embedded author and date) for references, as long as it is clear where you have gotten your information. Quotations should always be referenced, as should any information that is taken explicitly from a given source.

If you need help with writing, you should make an appointment to visit the Anthropology Writing Center or the JSIS Writing Center. Because of the large number of students and because of time limitations, I will not be able to read and comment on preliminary drafts.