'Li Feng has delivered a highly competent and accessible account of the social, political, and institutional history of early China. The text incorporates the most current state of scholarship in a rapidly developing field and deserves particular praise for its expert inclusion of archaeological evidence. The book will be welcomed by non-specialists and specialists alike.' Roel Sterckx, University of Cambridge 'As Professor Li acknowledges, it is daring for a single scholar to attempt a coherent account of the history of early China over the truly longue durée. The task demands a staggering command of the textual sources and archaeology of two millennia, before one even contemplates the writing of a synthetic account of a vast sweep of social and cultural history. The simple fact is that there is no historian writing in English who can match Professor Li's magisterial command and historical insight, and this account is sorely needed. Early China is a great achievement!' David Pankenier, Lehigh University 'An extremely useful overview. It provides undergraduates in particular with a comprehensive, competently written and digestible one-volume introduction to the study of early China, while also offering scholars in the field a sense of where early China studies as a whole are heading at the present moment.' Oliver Weingarten, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies