Local Politics and Book Production: The Popularization of Genealogies in Southern China, 1750s–1920s

Abstract:Focused on the production of genealogies in southern Zhejiang's Longyou County, this article investigates the relationship between local politics and book production in China between the 1750s and the 1920s. During that era, the major social groups in Longyou—native residents and Fujianese immigrants—actively participated in the production of genealogies. Analyzing fifty-nine genealogies from that county, this article shows that by the early twentieth century, book production had become a widely available strategy for identity construction and political control in local society. Over the course of the long nineteenth century, the right to be recorded through publishing moved down the social ladder to include most Chinese males.