Jonathan D. Spence explains why he chose to write about an obscure, rural part of 17th-century China and summarizes the primary sources he used to research the book. His goal is to explore a topic that is “both rural and local” (xi), the sort of history that often goes ignored. Further, it is a story that is ‘“small’ […] in the context of the overall historical record” but “[t]o the people actually involved […] of absolute, fatal importance” (xi).

Sources on local, rural Chinese history of this era are scarce since the premodern Chinese usually did not preserve local records (xii). Spence’s primary sources are:

• The Local History of T’an-ch’eng (1673) by Feng K’o-ts’an, which, like other local Chinese histories of the time, was “compiled by members of the educated gentry elite” (xii). It includes biographies of local notable individuals (both men and women); accounts of natural disasters, bandit attacks, and army activities; and details about local geography, demographics, and towns and cities (xii-xiii).
• Huang Liu-hung’s memoir and handbook (1690s), by the magistrate of T’an-ch’eng from 1670 to 1672. Like most magistrates of the period, Huang Liu-hung wrote a handbook and memoir to guide other officials (xiii-xiv).