1840 was a watershed year for the Qing Dynasty, the last autocracy in China's feudal society. From 1840 onwards the traditional system of a feudal society suffered constant failure and humiliation in face of bigger, stronger powers. This new book offers a clear account of the scale, pattern and function of the big, middle and small cities in the Qing Dynasty and the enormous role these cities played in China's social development from 1840 to the present day. Author Zhao Shiyu outlines the complicated layers and structures of life in a large Chinese urban centre at this time, and the key developments and changes that foreshadowed the forthcoming collapse of the feudal autocratic rule. Now available in English outside of China for the very first time, the Insight on Ancient China Series is published by Paths International in association with China's prestigious Hunan People's Publishing House.