This volume comprises some twenty articles, speeches and conversations of Fei Xiaotong from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Their central connecting theme is how civilizations could co-exist against a backdrop of rapid globalization. Fei proposes his concept of "cultural self-awareness," summarized in the axiom "each appreciates his own best, appreciates the best of others, all appreciate the best together for the greater harmony of all." This is the result of many years of research and fieldwork, and represents a synthesis of his Western training and traditional Chinese thought. Professor Fei Xiaotong was one of the most prominent Chinese sociologists and anthropologists in the last century, and a leading figure in Chinese intellectual circles. He was noted in the West for his Peasant Life in China, From the Soil and other works written during the 1930s and 1940s. His later important research and theoretical concepts, though extremely influential in China on both theoretical and practical levels, are almost unknown in international academia.

This classic text by Fei Xiaotong, China's finest social scientist, was first published in 1947 and is Fei's chief theoretical statement about the distinctive characteristics of Chinese society. Written in Chinese from a Chinese point of view for a Chinese audience, "From the Soil" describes the contrasting organizational principles of Chinese and Western societies, thereby conveying the essential features of both. Fei shows how these unique features reflect and are reflected in the moral and ethical characters of people in these societies. This profound, challenging book is both succinct and accessible. In its first complete English-language edition, it is likely to have a wide impact on Western social theorists. Gary G. Hamilton and Wang Zheng's translation captures Fei's jargonless, straightforward style of writing. Their introduction describes Fei's education and career as a sociologist, the fate of his writings on and off the Mainland, and the sociological significance of his analysis. The translators' epilogue highlights the social reforms for China that Fei drew from his analysis and advocated in a companion text written in the same period.