Since its establishment, the Chinese Social History Research Center of Shanxi University has attached great importance to the work of collecting, sorting, collating, and systematizing historical materials. Using these materials, it has undertaken research projects on such subjects as water conservancy, Shanxi merchants, and yangge. This article provides a brief introduction to the files, which consist of more than 6,000 volumes (or about a million items) collected by the center on rural grassroots units including communes, brigades, and production teams.
