Contents: Part I. The village, its institutions, usages, and public characters -- The Chinese village -- Construction of villages -- Village nomenclature -- Country roads -- The village ferry -- Village wells -- The village shop -- The village theatre -- Village schools and traveling scholars -- Chinese higher education -- The village high school, examinations, recent educational edicts -- Village temples and religious societies -- Cooperation in religious observances -- Cooperation in religious observances -- Cooperation in markets and fairs -- Cooperative loan societies -- Societies for watching the crops -- Village and city rain-making -- The village hunt -- Village weddings and funerals -- New Year in Chinese villages -- The village bully -- Village headmen.
Part II. Village family life -- Village boys and men -- Chinese country girls and women -- Monotony and vacuity of village life -- Unstable equilibrium of the Chinese family -- Instability from family disunity.
Part III. Regeneration of the Chinese village -- What can Christianity do for China?