In The Confucian-Legalist State, Dingxin Zhao offers a radically new analysis of Chinese imperial history from the eleventh century BCE to the fall of the Qing dynasty. This study first uncovers the factors that explain how, and why, China developed into a bureaucratic empire under the Qin dynasty in 221 BCE. It then examines the political system that crystallized during the Western Han dynasty, a system that drew on China's philosophical traditions of Confucianism and Legalism. D...

Revisiting a transformative era of Chinese contemporary art through essays, archives, and striking visual documentation.The China Moment explores one of the most dynamic turning points in global art history. Published to accompany the exhibition at the documenta Institut Kassel (January–March 2026), the book sheds new light on the radical shifts in Chinese art during the 1990s and 2000s.This richly illustrated volume stands out thr...

Do our ideas about social movements travel successfully beyond the democratic West? Unrest in China, from the dramatic events of 1989 to more recent stirrings, offers a rare opportunity to explore this question and to consider how popular contention unfolds in places where speech and assembly are tightly controlled. The contributors to this volume, all prominent scholars of Chinese politics and society, argue that ideas inspired by social movements elsewhere can help explain popular protes...