Much has been written of China’s peasant revolution, less has been written on the peasant experience of reform. In From Heaven to Earth Elisabeth Croll examines the images, policies and experiences of development and links the peasants’ experience of revolution and reform with their conceptualisations of time and change and examines the new and recent desires which motivate peasant households in China; the new and strenuous demands which are generated by current reforms which allocate new responsibilities to the peasant family; and family strategies evolved by peasant housholds to maximise their resources within the context of reformed rural development. From Heaven to Earth will be of great interest to students, lecturers and professionals in development studies, anthropology, sociology and Chinese Studies.