This book offers a biographical, intellectual and academic history of sociology in the late Qing and Republic of China period. The 46 sociologists featured in this volume are chosen from the pantheon of notable scholars who labored in this burgeoning field. Each of the 46 chapters is devoted to introducing one sociologist. Every chapter begins with a short biography that sheds light on how one sociologist became the scholar they were and earned their place in not only sociology, but also, for some of them, other fields in the social sciences and the humanities. This is followed by a review and analysis of the representative works by this sociologist, and how those laid the foundation for and contributed to the early development of a particular field of research in sociology as we know it today. The book weaves together a history of this academic discipline in China over those turbulent decades that organically combines personal details, methodological development, institutional changes and also larger social, economic and intellectual trends.

Table of Contents:
Li Dazhao and the sociology of historical materialism.- Qu Qiubai and the sociology of historical materialism.- Li Da and An Outline of Sociology.- Wang Yanan and his study of bureaucratic politics.- Chen Hansheng and the practice of economic and social surveys.- Xue Muqiao and the debate on the nature of Chinese rural society.- Feng Hefa and rural economic and social research.- Ma Yinchu and the new population theory.- Liang Shuming’s rural reconstruction theory and practice.- Tao Menghe and social surveys in China.- Yan Yangchu and mass education.- Li Jinghan and the Ding County survey.- Wu Jingchao and the theory of “a helping hand from the cities”.- Li Shuqing and Chinese Society in the Midst of Transformation.- Chen Xujing and The Way Out for Chinese Culture.- Wu Wenzao and the “Sinicization” of sociology.- Fei Xiaotong’s path of sociology.- Lin Yaohua and The Golden Wing.- Yang Maochun and rural studies.- Yang Qingkun and religion in Chinese society.- Francis L.K. Hsu and his study of psychological anthropology.- Zhang Zhiyi and his study of rural industry.- Tian Rukang and his study of people in the border regions.- Shi Guoheng and early study of Chinese enterprises.- Zhao Chengxin and the community study.- Sun Benwen and The Principles of Sociology.- Wu Zelin and Social Restraints.- Leonard S. Hsu and Outline of Population Theory.- Chen Da and his study of the Chinese population and labor.- Yan Xinzhe and his research on social undertaking and the rural population.- Ke Xiangfeng and his study of poverty.- Yan Jingyao and his research on crime.- Yang Kaidao and his rural society study and practice.- Pan Guangdan and his study of eugenics.- Yang Kun and his study of ethnology and mythology.- Li Anzhai and his study of social etiquette.- Qu Tongzu and Chinese Law and Society.- Lei Haizong and Chinese cultural studies.- Lin Tongji’s historical view of cultural morphology.- Xie Guozhen and his work on the literati association and faction.- Luo Xianglin and Hakka Studies.- Fu Zhenlun and his study of Chinese local records.- Chen Dongyuan and his study of the history of Chinese women's life.- Quan Hansheng and his research on China’s guild system.- Fu Yiling and Studies on the Economic History of Fujian’s Tenant Farmers.- Yan Zhongping and The Development of China’s Cotton Industry.