This authoritative volume--a large-scale empirical work comparable to Pitirim Sorokin's Social Mobility--is a penetrating and comprehensive study of social stratification and mobility in traditional Chinese society and a highly significant addition to the theoretical and factual foundations of contemporary social science. It offers an authentic portrayal not only of social mobility but of social life in China in general at the time of its original publication in the 1960s.

It includes the life histories of the upper class--scholars, active and retired officials, merchants, and...