This book gives us a new insight into the transformation that is taking place in China, especially in rural China. What we hear about rural China from the media is a tale of woe, focusing on income and quality of life inequalities without mentioning, of course, that such inequalities can be seen only because development (by whatever defi nition) is taking place. Income inequality is not something special in China. It is found even in the rich countries of the world but they do not receive the publicity in the media that China has received. Widening income inequality is a phenomenon that has been observed by Nobel Laureate Simon Kuznets (see Kuznets 1955). It takes place as agricultural economies industrialize. R. G. Williamson (1965) showed that regional income disparities widen during the early phase of economic development. Although these views have been contested there is enough evidence to indicate that this tendency exists where economic development takes place within the framework of a market economy.