{"product_id":"trial-of-modernity-9780804755863","title":"Trial of Modernity","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book illuminates what judicial modernity actually meant to the Chinese state and society in the early twentieth century and how the judicial reform resulted in paradoxical consequences due to a lack of resources and a disjunction between the national reform agenda and local social ecology.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This is an important book, not only for what it says about legal reform but also for what it says about the practice of modernity.\"—R. Kent Guy, \u003ci\u003eChina Review International\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eTrial of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e is a book that is extensively backed up and illustrated by numerous case studies based on the reading of a large corpus of archival material. It offers a deep insight into the functioning of the judicial system at the grassroots level during the time under examination and shows very clearly the motivations of the different actors involved at all levels of the judiciary and bureaucracy. It can be highly recommended to any reader who wishes to have a detailed and colorful picture of the functioning of the judiciary.\"—Jana Cyrol, \u003ci\u003eFrontiers of History in China\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"With \u003ci\u003eTrial of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e, Xu offers the finest book available on the first stage of Chinese legal modernization . . . The book's skillful organization combines chronological, thematic and geographical approaches to give complementary views on the 'legal reform' movement.\"—Jerome Bourgon,\u003ci\u003eChina Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Xiaoqun Xu is a seasoned scholar who has sifted through local archives, provincial archives and published documents to create a compelling, robust study of judicial reform in early twentieth-century China. His extensive research is well-presented in this excellent piece of scholarship, which will make an important contribution to the field of Chinese law and legal practice.\"—William T. Rowe, Johns Hopkins University\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Xu has produced an outstanding study of the perils, pitfalls, and unintended consequences of a centrally mandated reform of a centuries-old legal tradition. Our knowledge of Republican era state making in twentieth-century China is certainly the richer for this work. Present-day political leaders in China who are rapidly moving the country toward the implementation of a full-blown Western style judiciary would do well to ponder the issues raised in these pages as well.\"—Bradly W. Reed, University of Virginia\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCONTENTS  Preface000  Abbreviations000  Introduction  Part I:Envisioning Reform from the Center  1 Western Models and Chinese Practices: the New Policy Decade  2 Judicial Modernity as Performance of Formality: the Beiyang Period  3 Justice under Party-State: the Nanjing Decade  Part II: Provincial Setting and Financial Constraint  4 Provincial Institutions and Judicial Reform in Jiangsu  5 Judicial Finance: Nation, Province, and County  Part III: County Judicial Process  6 Social Ecology of County Judiciary  7 Power and Justice in Local Society  8 Prison Reform and County Jails  Part IV: Between Formalization and Informal Practices  9 \"Quick Justice\": Punishing Robbers and Bandits  10 Praxis of Petition and Economy of False Accusation  Conclusion  Notes  References  Glossary  Index","brand":"Stanford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405568516439,"sku":"9780804755863","price":63.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780804755863.jpg?v=1730492864","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/trial-of-modernity-9780804755863","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}