Ancient Chinese Villages: An Illusion of Shangrila

 There was a lot of imagination in narratives on rural areas in ancient China. For thousands of years, rural villages have existed. Why would they need to be a part of anyone’s imagination? The 2,000-year plus stable centralized imperial system in China underlies the tradition of focusing on imperial rulers and institutions in historical research.  The vague picture and difficult academic research set the stage for an idyllic imagining of ancient villages in China. There is a Western voice in this imagining, and the main pushers of this narrative were European missionaries. For both Western elites disappointed with the modern civilization brought about by the Second Industrial Revolution during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and China's rising middle class today,  it is a shangrila-style description of the villages that strikes a deep chord.  And based on the illusion of a lack of imperial governance in villages, there is another illusion that a village in ancient China was governed by local influential landed gentry.