Huaiyin Li
Professor — Ph.D., 2000, University of California, Los Angeles

Contact
- E-mail: hli@utexas.edu
- Phone: 512-475-7910
- Office: GAR 3.202
- Office Hours: Spring 2019: MW 12:45-1:45 p.m
- Campus Mail Code: B7000
Interests
Modern Chinese history; Contemporary Chinese economy, society, and politics; imperial China; gender and family; agrarian studies; Chinese culture and religions; and comparative studies of development and globalization.
Biography
Huaiyin Li is Professor of History and Asian Studies and director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his M.A. from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing in 1987 and Ph.D. from UCLA in 2000. His books include Village Governance in North China, 1875-1936, Stanford University Press, 2005; Village China under Socialism and Reform: A Micro-History, 1948-2008, Stanford University Press, 2009 (winner of 2009 Cecil B. Currey Book Award, the Association of Third World Studies; 2010 Robert W. Hamilton Book Runner-up Award, UT Austin; 2010 CHUS Award for Academic Excellence); and Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing, University of Hawaii Press, 2013 (2014 Robert W. Hamilton Book Runner-up Award, UT Austin).
Courses
HIS 302C • Introduction To China
38685 • Spring 2019
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM RLP 0.112
(also listed as ANS 302C)
HIS 382N • Contemporary Chinese History
39395 • Fall 2018
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as ANS 381)
HIS 364G • Modernization In East Asia
39200 • Spring 2018
Meets TTH 5:00PM-6:30PM GAR 1.126
(also listed as ANS 361)
HIS 382N • New Persp On Mod Chinese Hist
39745 • Fall 2017
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as ANS 381)
ANS 381 • New Persp On Mod Chinese Hist
30970 • Fall 2015
Meets F 12:00PM-3:00PM GAR 2.124
HIS 350L • Women And Gender In China
38565 • Fall 2015
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 2.112
(also listed as WGS 340)
HIS S340M • Modern China
84345 • Summer 2015
Meets MTWTHF 2:30PM-4:00PM GAR 1.126
HIS 302C • Introduction To China
38370 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM GSB 2.126
(also listed as ANS 302C)
HIS 340L • Post-Mao China: Chng/Transform
38555 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM GAR 1.126
(also listed as ANS 340L)
HIS 350L • Women And Gender In China
39620 • Fall 2014
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 1.134
(also listed as ANS 372, WGS 340)
HIS 382N • Contemporary Chinese History
39835 • Fall 2014
Meets F 2:00PM-5:00PM GAR 2.124
(also listed as ANS 381)
HIS 302C • Introduction To China
39635 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM GSB 2.126
(also listed as ANS 302C)
HIS 350L • Women And Gender In China
39925 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM GAR 1.126
(also listed as ANS 372, WGS 340)
HIS 364G • Modernization In East Asia
40000 • Fall 2013
Meets TTH 5:00PM-6:30PM GAR 1.126
(also listed as ANS 361)
HIS 382N • New Persp On Mod Chinese Hist
40095 • Fall 2013
Meets TH 1:00PM-4:00PM UTC 1.136
(also listed as ANS 381)
HIS 382N • Contemporary Chinese History
39660 • Fall 2012
Meets TH 9:30AM-12:30PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as ANS 381)
HIS S340M • Modern China
85670 • Summer 2012
Meets MTWTHF 2:30PM-4:00PM GAR 1.126
(also listed as ANS S340M)
HIS 306N • Introduction To China
39120 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM UTC 4.112
(also listed as ANS 302C)
HIS 364G • Post-Mao China: Change/Trans
39555 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM GAR 1.126
(also listed as ANS 361)
HIS 350L • Women And Gender In China
39376 • Fall 2011
Meets W 3:00PM-6:00PM GAR 2.112
(also listed as ANS 372, WGS 340)
HIS 382N • New Persp On Mod Chinese Hist
39610 • Fall 2011
Meets F 2:00PM-5:00PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as ANS 381)
HIS S340M • Modern China
85645 • Summer 2011
Meets MTWTHF 2:30PM-4:00PM GAR 1.126
(also listed as ANS S340M)
HIS 306N • Introduction To China
39350 • Spring 2011
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM GSB 2.126
(also listed as ANS 302C)
HIS 364G • Modernization In East Asia
39890 • Spring 2011
Meets TTH 5:00PM-6:30PM UTC 1.118
(also listed as ANS 361)
HIS 340M • Modern China
39205 • Fall 2010
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM UTC 3.134
(also listed as ANS 340M)
HIS 382N • Contemporary Chinese History
39525 • Fall 2010
Meets F 2:00PM-5:00PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as ANS 381)
HIS 306N • Introduction To China
39215 • Spring 2010
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM BUR 216
(also listed as ANS 302C)
HIS 364G • Post-Mao China: Change/Trans-W
39820 • Spring 2010
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM UTC 1.146
(also listed as ANS 361)
ANS 381 • Reform & Revolutn In Mod China
31210 • Fall 2009
Meets M 2:00PM-5:00PM GAR 1.134
HIS 340M • Modern China
39930 • Fall 2009
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM UTC 3.134
HIS 306N • Introduction To China
38710 • Spring 2009
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM BUR 216
(also listed as ANS 302C)
HIS 350L • Women And Gender In China-W
39185 • Spring 2009
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 2.124
(also listed as ANS 372, WGS 340)
HIS 350L • Women And Gender In China-W
40200 • Spring 2008
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 2.124
(also listed as ANS 372, WGS 340)
HIS 364G • Post-Mao China: Change/Trans-W
40330 • Spring 2008
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as ANS 361)
ANS 381 • New Persp On Mod Chinese Hist
31705 • Fall 2007
Meets W 4:00PM-7:00PM UTC 1.136
HIS 340M • Modern China
40855 • Fall 2007
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM BUR 136
ANS 381 • Contemporary Chinese History
30660 • Spring 2007
Meets W 4:00PM-7:00PM MEZ 1.122
HIS 350L • Women And Gender In China-W
39720 • Spring 2007
Meets TH 5:00PM-8:00PM GRG 424
(also listed as ANS 372, WGS 340)
HIS 340M • Modern China
40485 • Fall 2006
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM BUR 136
HIS 364G • State/Socty In Confucian China
40765 • Fall 2006
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM BUR 220
(also listed as ANS 361)
Books
Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing
The University of Hawaii Press, 2013
"This book offers a cogent, learned, and clearly written account of 20th-century Chinese historians' endeavors to make sense of their country's modern history in response to shifting political, ideological, and intellectual exigencies as well as to institutional developments, notably, the disciplinization of history."
"This book should be read by all students of modern Chinese intellectual history, and offers food for thinking about history in general." - Choice
"Huaiyin Li contributes to our knowledge of Chinese historical writing on two levels: first, as a summary of major historical currents across the twentieth century, and second, as a critique of all the things that can go wrong with narrativizing history, even while Li ultimately calls for a new and better 'master narrative.'" "Li offers a thorough analysis of the generational and ideological shifts in twentieth-century historical writings." "Reinventing Modern China presents a nuanced analysis of history writing in China during the Maoist period and since." - The Journal of Asian Studies
"One of the refreshing things about UT-Austin Professor Huaiyin Li's latest book on historical writing in China, Reinventing Modern China, is that roughly three-fourths of the more than four hundred references cited are from Chinese publications. Many of them written by members of Li's own cohort, Chinese social scientists and historians who didn't enter academic circles until China's economic reform era in the 1980s. The rest of Li's Chinese sources cover a wide range of scholarship from the early twentieth century to the present. Not that he ignores Western scholarship on the subject; far from it. He delves deeply into Western accounts of modern China and theoretical works on history-writing to elucidate cross-cultural influences and contrasting interpretations of historical events." "Welcome too is the tight, logical organization of his arguments that Li offers. What could look like an unfathomable tangle of views and interpretations is made crystal clear, so that the specialist and generalist alike can grasp the arguments with ease." "A worthy project, indeed. And Professor Li's book is an excellent place to begin the journey." - Pacific Affairs
Village China under Socialism and Reform: A Micro-History, 1948-2008
Stanford University Press, 2009
(2009 Cecil B. Currey Book Award, the Association of Third World Studies; 2010 Hamilton Book Award, UT Austin)
"[A] compelling analysis of the evolution of state-society relations during China's Maoist and reform eras." "The book is the product of impeccable scholarship, a combination of rigorous archival research and extensive fieldwork. Huaiyin Li's firsthand knowledge and personal connections have enabled him to probe a village community's "informal and often invisible structures", and he has persuasively demonstrated the critical role that those "subinstitutions" have played in determining the direction of Party-peasant relations in Qin village, a microcosm of village China, during the PRC's first 60 years." - The China Journal
"There is a burgeoning literature tracing change and continuity in post-revolutionary China. This book is among the best of that field. Using a rare, comprehensive collection of village accounts, records and cadres' diaries, a series of interviews conducted during lengthy visits over a period of 14 years, and a level of access and familiarity afforded him as a native-born villager, Huaiyin Li has reconstructed the political economic history of Qin village, in central Jiangsu, between the Maoist and post-Mao periods." "Well written, strongly argued and based on impressive analysis of fine-grained empirical evidence, this undoubtedly is one of the best case-studies of China's rural political economy in the latter part of the 20th century. It makes a major contribution to our understanding of political-economic trends throughout this turbulent period of history, and will serve as an important source of information for scholars and students alike." - East Asia: An International Quarterly
"Li's complex portrait of Qin village contributes an original, insightful, and well-documented study to a growing body of literature that is challenging common views of the past sixty years in China. The book delivers a real sense of village life throughout the different eras and the context to understand it, making it an excellent tool for teaching as well as for comparative research. Indeed, Li's well-grounded and theoretically-interesting research should be useful in refining comparative theories on the authoritarian institutions, social institutions, public political engagement, and economic development." - Perspectives on Politics
"I recommend the book for its ethnographic value. Six decades of political upheaval and socioeconomic transformation in rural China come alive in oral histories, the author's personal experiences and observations, local records, archives, and documents. The stories in the pages exhibit a high level of authenticity and readability. Through the lives of the ordinary villagers, Huaiyin Li leads us on a journey to experience village life and to witness history." - American Journal of Sociology
"The book is refreshing in its theoretical perspective, compelling in its arguments and meticulous in the extensive details it presents of peasants' lives and production in rural China." "Overall, Village China under Socialism and Reform is the most systematic and rigorous study of rural China to date, contributing significantly to the micro-history of rural China, collectivization of agriculture, economy and politics under collectives and post-Socialist China." - The China Quarterly
"Even though this is a micro-level analysis, the book recounts the major macro-level changes which occurred in China after the 1949 communist take-over, moving seamlessly from the national to the village level. The book is very well organized and well presented. Li outlines his central purpose and findings simply and cogently, and follows through with a systematic presentation of the evidence and analysis, all of which is done in exquisite prose." - Journal of Third World Studies
"In systematically documenting of these multifaceted aspects of daily life at the village level, and retrieving remaining records, Li contributes to the larger field of rural studies that argues for the urgent preservation of rural documents. This is a crucial effort for village level materials are rapidly disappearing in China, where as the memory of the collective era fades, once important documents are deemed useless and are being burned as firewood." - Enterprise and Society
"Based upon extensive use of rare local documentation as well as the author's intimate familiarity with his own local community, this well-crafted analysis of rural evolutionary transformation in east-central China deserves a wide reading." - Choice
"[T]his is a well designed and admirably executed work that sets a new standard for the study of the political economy of rural China. Readers will find it informative and inspiring." - Journal of Chinese Political Science
"The book is a sequel to the author's well-received 2005 monograph, Village Governance in North China, 1875-1936 (Stanford University Press). Together, these two extraordinarily detailed works have done a great deal to illuminate the interior dynamics of Chinese rural political economy in the late 19th and 20th centuries." - Journal of Asian History
Village Governance in North China, 1875-1936
Stanford University Press, 2005
"This book is a hugely informative study of the changing relation between villages and the state during the late Qing and early Republican periods based on the unusually abundant archives of Huailu County on the southwestern edge of the North China plain." "I came away from this volume enormously much better informed about exactly how rural taxation worked during this period, something that is essential to understanding the docuentary record of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century rural China. This book is probably not the easist read for the nonspecialist, but for anyone hoping to do research in this field it will be essential reading." - China Review International
"The book's strength is its focus on Chinese rural society at the village level. The author based his research on local archives filled with documents related to litigation cases, taxation records, and petitions. Its analysis of peasant behavior, which reveals the informal government of the village communities at Huailu, is particularly lucid." - Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"This is truly a well-written book on China's village governance, a very good example of combining theory, first-hand materials and sophisticated analysis." - Journal of Chinese Political Science
Publications
BOOKS
Village Governance in North China: Huailu County, 1875-1936. Stanford University Press, 2005.
Village China under Socialism and Reform: A Micro History, 1948-2008. Stanford University Press, 2009 (Winner of 2009 Cecil B. Currey Book Award, the Association of Third World Studies; winner of the 2010 CHUS Award for Academic Excellence; winner of 2010 Robert W. Hamilton Book Runner-Up Award, University of Texas at Austin).
Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2013 (Winner of 2014 Robert W. Hamilton Book Runner-up Award, University of Texas at Austin).
(Co-editor, with Thomas DuBois) Agricultural Reform and Rural Transformation in China since 1949. Brill, 2016.
(Editor-in-chief) Book Series “Rethinking Socialism and Reform” Published by Brill (twelve volumes; two volumes have been published, and all other volumes will be in 2018-2022).
(Editor-in-chief) Book Series “Studies in Contemporary Chinese History” Published by Brill (for volumes 3-10, to be published in 2018-2020).
《乡村中国纪事:集体化和改革的微观历程》(法律出版社2010年中文版) (本书获第三世界研究协会2009年最佳图书奖、留美中国历史学会2010年杰出学术奖;德州大学奥斯汀校区2010年度汉密尔顿专著奖)
《华北村治:晚清和民国时期的国家与乡村》(中华书局 2008年中文版)
《重构近代中国:中国历史写作中的想象与真实》(中华书局2013年中文版) (本书获德州大学奥斯汀校区2014年度汉密尔顿专著奖)
《中国现代化的历史进程》(合著) (安徽人民出版社1994年)
REFEREED ARTICLES
“Everyday Power Relations in State Firms in Socialist China: A Reexamination,” Modern China, vol. 43, no. 3 (2017), pp. 288-321.
“Institutions and Work Incentives in Collective Farming in Maoist China,” Journal of Agrarian Change, first published online August 6, 2016.
“Worker Performance in State-Owned Factories in Maoist China: A Reinterpretation,” Modern China, vol. 42, no. 4 (2015), pp. 377-414.
“Rewriting modern Chinese history in the reform era: changing narratives and perspectives in Chinese historiography,” in Q. Edward Wang and Georg G. Iggers, eds., Marxist Historiographies: A Global Perspective, Routledge, 2015, pp. 87-103.
“Status Identity, Institutional Constraints, and Work Efficiency in State-Owned Enterprises in Maoist China," Open Times (Kaifang shidai), no.3 (2015), pp. 13-33.
“Fiscal Cycles and the Low-Level Equilibrium under the Qing: A Comparative Analysis,” Social Sciences in China, vol. 36, no. 1 (2015), pp. 144-171.
“Between the State and the Village: Land Taxation and Substantive Governance in Traditional China,” in Philip Huang and Kathryn Bernhardt, eds., Research from Archival Case Records: Law, Society, and Culture in China, Brill, 2014, pp. 257-285.
“Rewriting Modern Chinese History in the Reform Era: Changing Narratives and Perspectives in Chinese historiography,” Storia della Storiografia, vol. 62, no. 2 (2012), pp. 89-104.
“From Revolution to Modernization: The Paradigmatic Transition in Chinese Historiography in the Reform Era,” History and Theory, vol. 49, no. 3 (2010), pp. 336-360.
“Between Tradition and Revolution: Fan Wenlan and the Origins of the Marxist Historiography of Modern China,” Modern China, vol. 36, no. 3 (2010), pp. 269-301.
“Cultural Transition and Village Discourse in Twentieth-Century China,” in William L. Ascher and John M. Heffron, eds, Cultural Change and Persistence: New Perspectives on Development, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pp. 113-132.
“Chuantong Zhongguo de shiti zhili: yi Huailu xian de tianfu zhengshou weili” 傳統中國的實體治理:以獲鹿縣的田賦徵收為例 (Substantive governance in traditional China: land taxation in Huailu county), in Philip Huang ed., Cong Susong dang’an chufa: Zhongguo de falu, shehui yu wenhua 從訴訟檔案出發:中國的法律、社會與文化 (Research from archival case records: law, society, and culture in China), Beijing: Falu chubanshe 法律出版社, 2009, pp. 203-232.
“Confrontation and Conciliation under the Socialist State: Peasant Resistance to Agricultural Collectivization in China in the 1950s,” Twentieth-Century China, vol. 33, no. 2 (2008), pp. 73-100.
“The First Encounter: Peasant Resistance to State Control of Grain in East China in the Mid-1950s,” The China Quarterly, no. 185 (2006), pp. 145-162.
“Everyday Strategies for Team Farming in Collective-era China: Evidence from Qin Village,” The China Journal, no. 54 (2005), pp. 79-98.
“Life Course, Labor Remuneration, and Gender Inequality in a Chinese Agrarian Collective,” The Journal of Peasant Studies, vol. 32, no. 2 (2005), pp. 277-303.
“Family Life Cycle and Peasant Income in Socialist China: Evidence From Qin Village,” The Journal of Family History, vol. 30, no. 1 (2005), pp. 121-138.
“Power, Discourse, and Legitimacy in North China Villages: Disputes Over the Village Head Office in Huailu County in the 1910s and 1920s,” Twentieth Century China, vol. 28, no. 2 (2003), pp. 73-110.
“Village Regulations at Work: Local Taxation in Huailu County, 1900-1936,” Modern China, vol. 26, no. 1 (2000), pp. 79-109.
“Zhongguo xiangcun zhili zhi chuantong xingshi: Hebei sheng Huailu xian zhi shili” 中國鄉村治理之傳統型式 (The pattern of rural governance in traditional China: the case of Huailu county, Hebei province), Zhongguo xiangcun yanjiu 中國鄉村研究 (Rural China), vol. 1 (2003), pp. 64-111.
“Wan Qing ji Minguo shiqi Huabei cunzhuang zhong de xiangdi zhi” 晚清及民國時期華北村莊中的鄉地制 (The xiangdi system in North China villages: 1875-1936), Lishi yanjiu 歷史研究 (Historical research), no.6 (2001), pp. 75-88.
“Ershi shiji zaoqi Huabei xiangcun de huayu yu quanli” 二十世紀早期華北鄉村的話語與權力 (Discourse and power in North China villages in the early twentieth century), Ershiyi shiji 二十一世紀 (Twenty-first century), no. 55 (1999), pp. 33-44.