One country two societies rural urban inequality in contenzporary chinareports new research on the nature extent and sources of inequality between all things rural and urban in contemporary china this introductory essay explains why this volume and the conference on wllich it was based may have something new and important to say about the nature of the worlds most populous and dynamic society. Request pdf one country two societies rural urban inequality in contemporary china review urban rural inequality exists in all developing countries however this problem is the most acute . One country two societies rural urban inequality in contemporary china doug guthrie contemporary sociology 2011 40 6 765 766 one country two societies rural urban inequality in contemporary china show all authors doug guthrie doug guthrie see all articles by this author. One country two societies rural urban inequality in contemporary china edited by martin king whyte cambridge mass harvard university press 2010 xi 445 pp . This timely and important collection of original essays analyzes chinas foremost social cleavage the rural urban gap it is now clear that the chinese communist revolution though professing dedication to an egalitarian society in practice created a rural order akin to serfdom in which 80 percent of the population was effectively bound to the land