This comprehensive but concise narrative of China since the eighteenth century builds its story around the delicate relationship between central government and local communities.

• Rejects the traditional view of China as a wholly harmonious society based on principles of stability - the Unwobbling Pivot of Ezra Pound's translation of the Chinese classic Zhongyong
• Provides an original interpretation, arguing that developments can be explained through an understanding of China's surprising swings between centralization and decentralization, between local...