Yuhua Wang

This book contains the basic ingredients of an interesting state theory. The author has read a wide range of sources and compiled a massive database on kinship relations in imperial China. Based on this material he builds a theoretical explanation for the fluctuating strength of central state control in imperial China from the 7th century to the beginning of the 20th.

The explanation focuses on the relationship between the state administration (particularly the emperor) and powerful local elites across the country. He argues (and illustrates with data) that this social structure changed from a star network in the 7th - 10th centuries to a bowtie network in the 11th - mid 19th century and disintegrated to a ring without central control in the late 19th century. Surprisingly, the imperial rulers were most secure in their position when the Chinese state was weak, and insecure when central control was strong.

But I did not find the mode of presentation particularly enlightening. The author crams many different viepoints into his analysis of each imperial dynasty. Everything is presented in short subchapters without much detailed explanation. The book reads almost like a literature review: the cited sources probably state what the author says they do, but he does not add much additional insight by presenting a few graphs.

The author also jumps quite quickly from one topic to another. Even though I usually favor theory ahead of minutiae, this book would have been better with more detailed examples of successful and unsuccessful central imperial control through the centuries. In addition to fast-forwarding through more than a millenium of Chinese history in 200 pages, the author could well have expanded the book by pausing for a closer look a state-periphery relations from time to time.

In conclusion, this book presents and interesting historical perspective on state development, but it's not a great pleasure to read it.… (mehr)