This book examines social transformation during the Tang-Song period by focusing on the emergence and development of the "society of moneyed elite" in ancient China. Specifically, the author tries to shed light on three important theoretical questions. First, how to understand social change from the perspective economic history; second, how to construct scientifically-informed causal explanations of historical processes and events; and third, how to remedy the shortcomings of previous studies that emphasize the contrasts between the two dynasties while overlooking the continuity between them.
