It is the contention of this book that Neo-Confucianism made that order possible."

It is the contention of this book that Neo-Confucianism made that order possible.

This book traces the shared culture of the Chinese elite from the seventh to the twelfth centuries.

The book is set in one locality, Wuzhou (later Jinhua), a prefecture in China’s Zhejiang province, from the twelfth through the sixteenth century.