A Ming Society: Tai-ho County, Kiangsi, in the Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries is a 1996 non-fiction book by John W. Dardess, published by University of California Press.
Jerry Dennerline of Amherst College described it as a "history of a devolving network of literati elite families in T'ai-ho and their culturally and politically most visible members.
"[13] Farmer stated that the information on the decline in birthrates and resulting downward mobility among the upper class of Taihe is "Perhaps most interesting to readers of [the Journal of Interdisciplinary History]".
"[15] Zurndorfer stated that the book can assist both general readers and specialists and that "raises a number of historiographical issues that should, I hope, create debate between those scholars who see the relevance of situating the results of highly erudite sinological research into the broader stream of historical writing, and those who do not.
"[17] He concluded that it is "a stunningly detailed moving picture of one part of China, inextricably linked both to the Ming's imperial center and its broadly flowing cultural streams as the developments we seek to understand occurred.
"[15] Helen Dunstan wrote in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies that Dardess had "acumen in bringing the interest of seemingly obscure topics to the attention of the sinological community" and that he "has put Taihe onto the historical map".
[6] Dunstan criticized the "elite studies perspective" which limited his finding "obscure" facts and she suggested including "an acknowledgement of the possibility of there having been rich and interesting local colour in the lives of ordinary Taihe people would have made for a more balanced ending to an otherwise fine book.
[8] Romeyn Taylor of the University of Minnesota described it as an "engagingly written monograph", adding that the lack of Chinese characters in the index and in the main body "may prove an inconvenience to some readers.