In my judgment the most striking fact in the new China is the creation of state power. Traditionally, in the agrarian empires of Asia, the government has had relatively little power: at least power of a fundamental kind. It might take arbitrary and startling action; but the total result of such deeds was small. A government, however impressive its trappings, could seldom carry through a sustained reforming policy. In China, custom or Confucius was sovereign, not the emperor.