Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Fei Xiaotong BA, MA, PhD Prof. Fei Xiaotong is a sociologist and anthropologist of international renown and a pioneer and champion in China for the two disciplines he professes. He is a native of Wujiang in Jiangsu province. His father, Mr . Fei Puan ， once served as the Provincial Inspector of Schools of Jiangsu, and established secondary schools on modem lines in his home town. Madam Yang Renlan, Prof. Fei's mother, was an early advocate of women's rights and had shelters built for women and young girls i n distress. Wi th such learned and progressive-minded parents the young Fei Xiaotong had the foundation for his academic calling laid early. He grew up to be a scholar of the first order, admired and esteemed by all in academe and beyond. Prof. Fei Xiaotong attended the Dongwu University, Yenching University, and the Graduate School of Tsinghua University. In 1935 Prof. Fei, at the request of the provincial authorities in Guangxi, undertook research on the special ethnic groups at Dayaoshan, and the findings were p u b l i s h e d as The Social Structure of the People of Flower Basket Yao w h i c h he c o - a u t h o r ed w i t h Wang Tonghui. I n 1936 he went to Britain fo r further studies, and became a student under Malinowski. On the findings of his research at the Ka i Xiangong Village on the southeast bank of Lake Taihu he wrote a dissertation which, when published, was widely k nown under its title, Peasant Life in China. Prof. Fei received his Ph.D. from the University of London in 1938, and returned to China immediately afterwards to become professor of sociology at the University of Yunnan. He set up a sociology research workshop with colleagues at Yenching University where he, leading a group of young scholars of promise, engaged in fieldwork on specific social entities such as rural communities, factories, and ethnic minorities. Thei r research often proceeded in the harshest conditions, and yet Prof. Fei did not allow himself to be distracted by material discomfort. He concentrated on the wor k he was engaged in and this yielded fruit: Earthbound China was published in 1990 and remains an invaluable source of information on the subject. I n 1943, Prof . Fei made his first visit to the United States, at the invitation of President Roosevelt. He returned to China and resumed his academic duties in 1944, and his two masterpieces, From the Soil, The Foundations of Chinese Society a n d Family Planning System, date from this period. While From the Soil reviews a profound subject in layman's terms and is therefore admired by both the specialist and the general reader, Family Planning System contains significant viewpoints of long-lasting effect. Both books have been popular since they were first Chinese Universit y Bulleti n Sprin g • Summer 2 0 0 0