This is a study of landholding, taxation and social structure in one county of central China that became famous in the Ming and Ch'ing periods for producing great officials and remarkable intellectual traditions. The primary aim of the author is to investigate the composition, organisation and economic basis of the local elite, in particular the role played by large kinship groups and among her sources are local gazetteers and lineage genealogies. The importance of the book is that it looks at the elite in a local context, rather than focusing on the national elite of top degree-holders and officials. As an in-depth case study of the history of elite families and lineages, social structure and social mobility and also economic history in one locality over five centuries or so the book, is unique and will be of interest to anthropologists as well as sociologists and historians.