本书是由德国科学联合会（DFG）和德国经济合作部共同资助的“关于中国地方参与进程中的政治意识研究”的最终成果之一。作者对中国六个省份或经济特区的社区和村庄进行了考察，对相关人员进行了多次访谈。在大量比较研究的基础上，研究了制度变迁在草根层面上（农村和城市社区）对相关人员（农民、普通市民和地方干部）的意识的影响。本项目共分为两卷，第一卷即本卷致办于中国城市的研究；第三卷致力手农村地区的研究。一本卷从稳定和合法性的角度、从中国农村和城市的政治意识的角度，研究农村和城市居民区的转型及其对地方政府的政权稳定的影响和对全国层面的影响。

全書有中文論文八篇，英文論文兩篇。各文作者分別從近世中國公私觀念的常與變、個體和群體的統合與獨立、情感、性別與公私等角度切入，企圖從一個長時段的歷史視野，來觀察近代中國公私領域之嬗變。

本书共分为7章，包括“不稳定的财政根源”、“非正式经费体系”、“火耗归公”、“财政合理化改革和各地的试验”、“地方改革的多样性和基本原则”、“改革的障碍：基层腐败和江南清查案”、及“前瞻：火耗归公改革的失败”。

Is modernity in non-Western societies always an “alternative” modernity, a derivative copy of an “original modernity” that began in the West ? No, answer the contributors to this book, who then offer an absorbing set of case studies from modern China to make their point. By focusing on people’s ordinary routines of working, eating, going to school, and traveling, the authors examine the notion of modernity as it has been staged in the minute details of Chinese life. Essays explore people’s basic search for food, water, and lighting during the late-Qing -- early republican era; contradictory attitudes toward women and the violence of foot-binding; the role of Chinese scientists in promoting a shift to modern, nationalistic discourses; the growing popularity of savings banks among urban Chinese in the early twentieth century; the transnational and national identities of returned overseas Chinese in Xiamen, Fujian Province; and middle-class “Shanghai travelers” who imagined themselves as cosmopolitan consumers. Looking at the post-Mao reform era of the late twentieth century, contributors explore the theme of “revaluation” – that is, the way China’s move into global capitalism is commoditizing goods and services that previously were not for sale, from domestic labor to recycling and water resources, in an increasingly consumer-oriented society.

Glossy television images of happy, industrious, and increasingly prosperous workers show a bright view of life in twenty-first-century China. But behind the officially approved story is a different reality, Gerard Lemos reveals in this extensively researched book. Lemos conducted hundreds of interviews with Chinese men and women in non-westernized areas distant from such cities as Beijing and Shanghai. He reports that the lives his subjects describe belie the myth of a harmonious, cohesive Chinese society. Much as the government promotes such a positive image, everyday people in China are beleaguered by immense social and community problems as well as personal, family, and financial anxieties. Lemos investigates a China beyond the tourist trail. He offers a revealing account of the thoughts and feelings of Chinese people regarding all facets of their lives, from education to health care, unemployment to old age, politics to wealth. Taken together, the stories of these men and women bring to light a broken society, one whose people are frustrated, angry, sad, and often fearful about the circumstances of their lives. The author considers the implications of these findings and analyzes how China's community and social problems threaten the ambitious nation's hopes for a cohesive future.

與以往學界對中國基督教活躍於內陸鄉村社會的認識有所不同，本書側重描繪基督教在發達的沿海商業中心溫州迅猛崛起的軌跡，並以溫州為例，剖析宗教實踐、宗教空間和宗教話語在中國城市現代性變遷中所扮演的重要角色，內容涉及政教關係、民營資本主義發展、日常消費、性別關係、道德文化、階層關係、城鄉差異以及農民工的城市融入。作者為寫作本書所做的人類學田野調查和生活史素材的收集歷時近兩年，勾勒出一幅新興城市商業精英所引領的宗教復興之圖景。通過著重記錄商人基督徒群體在日常框架下對現代性與經濟發展的理解以及他們的身份建構，力圖從社會文化層面揭秘改革時期都市基督教的驚人增長。本書強調基督教並非一個內部高度同質的意義體系，而可將其當作一面棱鏡，多角度透視當代中國社會文化變遷的宏觀過程。本書可用作中國人類學／社會學、都市研究、宗教研究以及定性研究方法的大學教材。 「對於對政教關係或對現代中國宗教實踐有興趣的人士來說，這是一本必讀書，作者淺白易懂的文字適合用於本科教材。」──《中國季刊》(The China Quarterly) 「這是第一部關於中國基督新教的民族志專著。曹南來博士成功地粉碎基督教在中國作為洋教的刻板認識，讓讀者窺見一個已高度本地化、去政治化的宗教，而這一宗教又與資本主義經濟行為形成高度互滲。」──《亞洲人類學》(Asian Anthropology)