China’s War on Smuggling: Law, Economic Life and the Making of the Modern State, 1845-1965

The process of state-building in China has taken place in phases, beginning with the efforts of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), the Nationalist government (1928–1949) and later communist rule (1949- present). The literature on the subject has generated a debate on the Chinese endeavours towards state-building with regard to the question of institution-building, the legacy of coercion, intimidation and economic transformation. Philip Thai belongs to the new generation of scholars who employ innovative conceptual frameworks to analyse the dynamics of China’s state formation and responses to them that makes present-day China complex and diverse. China’s War on Smuggling is, thus, an important contribution extending the debate on state-building in China.