Elizabeth J. Perry is Henry Rosovsky professor of Government at Harvard University. Her previous books include Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China, Shanghai on Strike: The Politics of Chinese Labour, Proletarian Power: Shanghai in the Cultural Revolution, and Challenging the Mandate of Heaven: Social Protest and State Power in China.

Mark Selden is Senior Research Associate, Cornell University and a Coordinator of The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. His books include China in Revolution: The Yenan Wat Revisited, Chinese Village, Socialist State (with Edward Friedman and Paul Pickowicz), The Political Economy of Chinese Development and The Resurgence of East Asia: 500, 150 and 50 Year Perspectives (with Giovanni Arrighi and Takeshi Hamashita).