The question for twentieth-century China has been the integration of tradition and modernity. In this collection of essays written over a period of twenty years (1987-2006), Chen Lai reflects on the question in an informative and original way. He reads behind the political slogans and engages with the thought both of Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, and western sociology, and representative Chinese thinkers, notably Feng Youlan and Liang Shuming. While the focus is on China, the book also appeal to anyone interested in this fascinating question of how to modernize whilst retaining the positive values of tradition. Chen Lai's unique and balance grasp of society marks him out as the foremost thinker in China on the topic today.

Chen Lai, Ph.D (SOAS, Peking University), is a professor of Philosophy and the director of the Center for Confucian Study and the History of Chinese Philosophy at the Peking University. He is one of China's most prominent scholars of the history of Chinese philosophy, is an honorary professor at eleven universities, and is a member of the editorial boards of sixteen academic journals.

Edmund Ryden, Ph.D. (SOAS, London University), translated "Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy" (Yale 2002) and the "Laozi : Daodejing" (Oxford World's Classics 2008). He has also written on the philosophical background to human rights in a Chinese context.