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As part of this experience, Stefano Cammelli also played as second fiddle in the Milan-based group Almanacco Popolare, whose members at the time were Sandra Mantovani (vocals and dulcimer), Bruno Pianta (guitar and vocals), Cristina Pederiva (viola), and Antonella Ansani (vocals).

Stefano Cammelli was the founder of the musical ensemble Gruppo Emiliano di Musica Popolare in which he played as first fiddle.

In the early Eighties, he returned to the study of peasant revolts, his original field of research. His study of the Italian peasant revolts against milling taxes on grain (Al suono delle campane. Indagine su una rivolta contadina – I moti del macinato, ‘To the sound of bells: investigation into a peasants ’ revolt – The milling tax revolts) remained a reference point on the subject for many years on account of its original use of oral sources.

Then, some thirty years ago now, Cammelli’s academic interest in peasant revolts led him to focus on China, a subject on which he has written several books. His main research topics are the dynamics of rebellion among peasant communities and the relationship between the traditional agrarian world and political parties.

His two major contributions in this field are Ombre cinesi – Indagine su una cultura che volle farsi nazione (2005, ‘Chinese shadows - Investigating a culture that wanted to be a nation’) and Storie di uomini e di fiumi (2016, ‘Tales of men and rivers’).

In 2014, his book Quando l’Oriente si tinse di rosso – Saggi sulla rivoluzione cinese (‘When the East became red - Studies on the Chinese revolution’) marked an important moment for the study of Chinese history. Breaking a taboo that had prevailed for almost sixty years, Cammelli tackled the study of missionary sources (Italian, French and German), discovering the vast amount of historical evidence that an analysis of missionary records can bring to scholarship on the Chinese revolution.

He is currently regarded as one of the leading Italian scholars in the field of Chinese history.

He has been the director of the research centre on contemporary China ‘’Polonews’ since 2007.