This is a thoroughly revisionist study, in the best sense of the word. Starting from the conviction that a close look at marriage and divorce in China can open "a wide window onto what might be called the `interface' between state and society" (p. 14), Diamant sets out to capture a better sense of the quality of "everyday interactions between citizen and state" (p. 15). He uses these observations to shed light on larger questions about the degree to which citizens in differ- ent social strata may have regarded the state as legitimate or illegitimate, as well as the extent to which state interventions designed to alter power relations in both rural and urban society were effective.