(1)  MANUSCRIPTS: Should be double-spaced with one-inch margins and should be submitted as an e-mail attachment to ruralchinastudies@gmail.com. Rural China uses a blind peer review process. Authors should not include their names in the manuscript and should avoid other identifying references.  Please include an abstract of about 200 words and 4-5 keywords. Bilingual scholars should provide their own abstract in Chinese (about 300 words) in the final stages of preparation for print.

(2)  TEXT:     

(a)    Heads. The text should be broken by subtitles to facilitate reading.

(b)    Text Citations. Specify all references in the text (and in the text of any notes) by last name of author and year of publication, with pagination as appropriate. Do not use ibid., op. cit., loc. cit., supra, infra, or cf; instead show subsequent citation of the same source in the same way as the first citation. For titles in English, provide full names in the citation only when the reference list includes more than one author with the same surname. For titles in Chinese, provide the author’s full name.List complete information for every reference at the end of the article only, under “REFERENCES.”

      Examples:

As a result, "the elite strengthened their control of the militia and therefore of the local areas" (Wei, 1985: 160).    Please note the colon after the date. 

Indeed, in the absence of any immediate need, many counties simply disbanded their militia at this time (Hunan zhengbao, December 20, 1912; Fu  and Liu, 1933: 13-14, 17-18).

(c)    Notes. Use notes for discursive comments, not for documentation.      

      Superscripts for location of notes should be inserted in the text and all       notes should benumbered consecutively and placed at the bottom of each page. Notes should be in the same 12 point font of the text and should be double-spaced.   Please try to keep the number and length of notes to a minimum.

(d) Italics. Use italics sparingly. Italicize foreign terms only at the first occurrence in the article.     

(e)  Upon first mention of another scholar’s name in the text, provide his or her first and last name, not just the last name.

(3)  REFERENCES: List all references alphabetically by author and (for works by the same author) chronologically by year of publication. In references, observe these standards:     

(a) List authors by full name. Use a comma after the surname of an author with an East Asian name only if the author’s work cited was written in a Western language and the author used Western name order. 

(b) If the references include works by an author under both an English name and his/her Chinese name, be sure to cross-reference the names so that the reader is aware that it is the same person.

(c) Do not use “et al.” List all collaborators.   

(d) Periodical data should be complete (volume, month, pages, series; include  the city of publication for foreign journals).    

(e) Do not use italics or boldface.

(f) In the transliteration of titles of works in East Asian languages, capitalize       only the first word and proper names (e.g., Mao Zedong xuanji). 

(g) Give English translation in parentheses following titles of East Asian books and articles. Provide English translations also of organizations or institutions that serve as “authors,” compilers, or editors.

Examples:   

            CHENG MAOXING (1936) Xianxing baojia zhidu (The current baojia system).  Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju.

CH’U, T’UNG-TSU (1962) Local Government in China under the Ch’ing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.           

       DUARA, PRASENJIT (1990) “Elites and the structures of authority in the villages of North China, 1900-1949.” Pp. xx-xxx in Joseph W. Esherick and Mary B.  Rankin (eds.), Chinese Local Elites and Patterns of Dominance.  Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.     

Huailu xian zhi (Gazetteer of Huailu county) (1985 [1876]).  Huailu: Huailu xian zhengfu.                  

MORITA AKIRA (1976)  “Shindai no gito sei to sono haikei” (The yitu system and its background in the Qing dynasty).  Shakai keizai shigaku 42, 2:1-23.                                            

(4)  TRANSLITERATION:                                     

(a)    Chinese. Use the pinyin system in transliterating Chinese terms and names. In-text, authors may elect to use characters instead where preferable and appropriate. For titles in References, characters followed by the English translation within parentheses is preferred to pinyin rendering of the title followed by English translation. If characters are used for titles in the References, please also provide the characters for the author’s name after the name in pinyin. Wherever necessary, the old spelling may be put in parentheses on the first occurrence. Do not hyphenate given names (Zhou Enlai); hyphenate other words and terms only when necessary for clarity. Exceptions to the pinyin rule, for the sake of clarity, will be considered at the author’s request.  A reliable source for the pinyin system is the Xinhua zidian (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, rev. ed., 1971).

(b)  Japanese. Follow the system of Kenkyusha’s New Japanese-English Dictionary (Tokyo: Kenkyūsha, 1954), but omit macrons over long vowels in well-known place names (e.g., Tokyo).     

(c)  Korean. Follow the McCune-Reischauer system described in “The Romanization of the Korean Language,” Transactions of the Korean Branch, Royal Asiatic Society 29 (1939): 1-55, but substitute an umlaut for the half-moon.                                                              

JOURNAL POLICY                                                     

 (1)  MALE-ORIENTED LANGUAGE: Do not refer to sexually mixed groups of people by using male-oriented words (“men,” “man,” “brothers”) and do not personify such groups as male (“the Chinese revolutionary and his outlook”).                                                          

 (2)  CHINA: The journal will refer to China as “China” or the “People’s Republic of China.” Expressions such as “Red China” or “Communist China” will be avoided. Do not use vague terms such as “the Reds,” “the Communists” or “the Chinese” when a more specific expression (the Chinese people, the Party, the government, the Central Committee, the China Travel Service) is in order. The term “Communists” should be applied only to Party members.