China's Last Imperial Frontier

Xiuyu Wang's book is an excellent narrative and analysis of the last frontier expansion project of the Qing, in the Tibetan region of western Sichuan. China's troubled relationship with its Tibetan population is one of the legacies of this early twentieth century effort. Wang combines geographical, ethnographic, and historical approaches very well, and connects his study to comparative literature on imperial expansion. This is a fascinating and impressive contribution to the study of modern China's frontier and ethnic history. -- Peter Perdue, Yale University This is a finely wrought study of the expansion of the late Qing state on the southwestern frontier. It not only illuminates the political debates over how best to tame the 'wild west' of Kham, but gives a penetrating analysis of the connections between those policies, efforts at military modernization, and the rising tide of revolution in Sichuan. Carefully researched using original Chinese sources, Wang's account is a valuable addition to the growing literature on the place of the frontier in the making of modern China. -- Mark Elliott, Harvard University