Gender and Power in Rural North China : Stanford University Press : 9780804722957 : 0804722951 : 01 Jul 1994 : "For a woman to be without ability is a virtue" is a view attributed to Confucius but still very much alive in contemporary China. It is a paradox?a proposition widely accepted as true by both women and men but in practice denied in the conduct of everyday life. The author explores the recreation of this paradox in the processes of rural reform in China during the 1980's. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution and the rejection of collectivism, the Chinese leadership initiated a series of rural policy changes that included the transfer of collective resources to individuals, households, or groups of households; the replacement of the commune system with formal local governments and mixed (private and public) forms of economic organization; the revival of private marketing; and reduced state control over the production and sale of agricultural produce. This book shows how the