When originally published in Beijing in 1974, the Chinese publisher said: "This is a book of easy-to-read reportage in depth from a pioneer people's commune in China. "The story of Chillying's struggle and growth over fifteen years is typical of the people's communes as a whole. It should help readers to understand better the character, make-up, functions and advantages of these new-type socialist collectives, and of the life, work and outlook of the 600 million rural people, about four-fifths of China's population, who are organized in them. "China's agriculture, which feeds the world's most populous country, is the basis of her economy. The authors give a close-up view of how the spirit of self-reliance and hard struggle, which promotes her entire advance, shows itself in the communes. "The story is told in historic sequence, both on a commune-wide scale and in terms of separate villages and spheres of work -- agriculture, industries, trade, education, people's militia, the youth, women, culture and recreation, medicine and health. "Building socialism is a struggle against class enemies, erroneous lines and ideas, and nature. Waging it, people transform both the world and themselves. We learn through living episodes and portraits how the Communist Party of China leads her peasants forward in conformity with Chairman Mao Tsetung's revolutionary line, and how socialist ideas take ever deeper root in countless hearts and minds."