"All the essays included in this volume are of a high scholarly caliber and are from different disciplines—art history, literary studies, institutional history, political thought, and social history. State Power in China is about how political power is constructed, propagated, channeled, contested, exercised, and formulated."

"This marvelous collection provides a wealth of new perspectives on the role of the state in China between the tenth and fourteenth centuries. From the court to the periphery, from the emperor to the lowliest soldier, the nine important essays elucidate the connections that bound state and society together, and expose the forces of disintegration that constantly threatened social and political order. State Power in China is a must-read not only for students of the Song, but also for anyone interested in state-society relations in Chinese history."

"The editors position this collection in the historiography, describing general trends in historical scholarship over the past several decades that swung between political-institutional history and sociocultural history and back again. This collection represents a return to political-institutional history, or at least a trend toward studying the 'state' in its many guises and from multiple perspectives."