Like many Chinese who have migrated to the big city, Liang Hong used to go home for quick trips to visit family, until one year over a decade ago when she was struck by the fact that her village had become unrecognizable.
The village center was abandoned, the nearby river polluted, the forest cut down, the local school turned into a pigpen. Violence had increased and almost anyone who could had left. And so she began recording her thoughts and interviewing locals to find out what had gone wrong.
In 2010, she published her findings as “China in Liang Village” (the Chinese title), now translated by emily goedde as China in one Village: The Story of one town and the Changing world. The title makes plain Liang’s ambition to explain problems plaguing not only her hometown but also all of Chinese society, said ian Johnson in a review for the new York times.
“Though she fictionalizes her hometown’s name and those of the main characters, she pulls no punches,” said Johnson.
