This is a thoroughly revisionist study, in the best sense of theword. Starting from the conviction that a close look atmarriage and divorce in China can open "a wide window ontowhat might be called the `interface' between state andsociety" (p. 14), Diamant sets out to capture a better sense ofthe quality of "everyday interactions between citizen andstate" (p. 15). He uses these observations to shed light onlarger questions about the degree to which citizens in differ-ent social strata may have regarded the state as legitimate orillegitimate, as well as the extent to which state interventionsdesigned to alter power relations in both rural and urbansociety were effective.