The Chinese State at the Borders

Larry (emerita, history, U. of British Columbia, Canada) presents 13 essays that explore different facets the millennia-long relationship between Chinese central authorities and the Chinese borderlands. Following a broad overview of the center and the borderlands in Chinese political theory, contributions address such topics as Chinese cartography during the Ming and Qing dynasties, marital politics and border stability on the Manchu-Mongol frontier in the early 17th century, philosophical manipulation of border issues by neo-Confucian Wang Yangming (1472-1529), Qing dynasty historical writing on less than successful military expansionist campaigns in the southwest borderlands, river tributary politics and interstate relations during the late Qing, the relationship between the Guangxi province and Indochina during the Republican period, Chinese Communist Party efforts to settle Han Chinese in the borderlands, and the use of borderlands as places of exile and punishment. Distributed in the US by the U. of Washington Press. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Diana Lary is a professor emerita of history at the University of British Columbia. Contributors include Timothy Brook, Nicola Di Cosmo, Benjamin Elman, Stevan Harrell, Van Nguyen-Marshall, Pitman Potter, Peter Perdue, Andre Schmid, Leo Shin, Wang Ning, Alexander Woodside, and Victor Zatsepine.