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BOOK REVIEWS
ology and administrators in the 'Territories'. This report (which was published in full in the 1976 volume of our Journal) had a profound effect, at least in anthropology. Students began to move from archives into the field in what Freedman came to refer to as "residual China"—the New Territories and also Taiwan. It was difficult at that time, in Britain, for a variety of reasons, to obtain the necessary training in sinology for social anthropologists and so, undaunted, Freedman persuaded those who were sinologically trained to move into anthropology. One of those he drew in was Hugh Baker, well known to members for both his village study of Sheung Shui and contributions to our symposia and Journal. Freedman's Singapore, China, and New Territories studies triggered off a new era in research.
The essays in this book reflect Freedman's many interests in Chinese society and point up his lively mastery of Chinese social structural problems. The book is valuable also because they are scattered over a wide range of publications, many of which are difficult to obtain for those without access to professional and academic libraries (and several are not elsewhere available in Hong Kong). Essays are grouped around five major topics, viz.: "The Chinese in Southeast Asia”; “Chinese Society in Singapore"; "Social Change in the New Territories"; "Kinship and Religion in China”; and "On the Study of Chinese Society". Several pieces deal with studies in history. Freedman was a master at finding something in documents others might scorn for their biased approach or the secondary nature of their sources. I remember him saying to me once, “any document has something new to tell you. Whether you get a new answer depends on the questions you ask it". Other pieces reflect his interests in migration and settlement of the Chinese. As the editor observes, part of the attraction of overseas Chinese to Freedman was surely the analogy with Jews (Jewish studies were in fact another of Freedman's main-line interests). Essay 4 gives a treatment of this analogy. Other essays deal with geomancy in the context of kinship; Joan associations and the handling of money; and marketing organization. Some address themselves to the sinologist, as in "What Social Science can do for Chinese Studies". One of Freedman's missions indeed was to foster better relationships between sinologists and anthropologists: two groups more known perhaps for their feuds than their friendship. He was beginning to have some considerable success.
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