Yang Kaidao and His Rural Society Study and Practice

Yang Kaidao (1899–1981), art name Daozhi, was a native of Xinhua, Hunan. He entered the preparatory studies department of the University of Shanghai in 1920, and graduated from the Nanjing Higher Normal University following studies in agriculture in 1924. In August of the same year, he went to study in the United States and studied rural sociology first at Iowa Agricultural College and then at the Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. He earned master’s degree and PhD in 1925 and 1927 respectively. Following his return to China in 1927, he became at various times a professor of sociology at the Great China University, Fudan University, and the Agricultural College of the National Central University, and also professor and head of sociology at Yenching University and dean of its law school.