Edited by Clara Wing-chung Ho - Contributions by Patricia Buckley Ebrey; Benjamin A. Elman; Mark Elvin; Josephine Fox; Susan Mann and Edward L. Shaughnessy

The value of this collection lies in its linking together of a group of internationally renowned scholars who are at the forefront of their fields to present some of their recent findings on different historical issues. By covering different topics and periods, this volume is representative of contemporary Western scholarship in Chinese history.

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 1. Chronologies of Ancient China: A Critique of the "Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology" Project Chapter 3 2. The Politics of Imperial Collecting in the Northern Song Period Chapter 4 3. Who is Responsible for the Limits of Jesuit Scientific and Technical Transmission from Europe to China in the Eighteenth Century? Chapter 5 4. Marriages, Births, and Deaths in the Lower Yangzi Valley during the Later Eighteenth Century Chapter 6 5. Why Women Were Not a Problem in Nineteenth-Century Chinese Thought