During the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the province emerged as an important element in management of the expanding Chinese empire, with governors-those in charge of these increasingly influential administrative units-playing key roles. R. Kent Guy's comprehensive study of this shift concentrates on the governorship system during the reigns of the Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors, who ruled China from 1644 to 1736. In the preceding Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the responsibilities of provincial officials were ill-defined and often shifting; Qing governors, in contrast, were influential members of a formal administrative hierarchy and enjoyed the support of the central government, including access to resources. These increasingly powerful officials extended the court's influence into even the most distant territories of the Qing empire. Personnel records and biographies provide colorful details about the lives, accomplishments, misfortunes, and feuds of noteworthy governors.--R. Kent Guy is professor of history at the University of Washington. He is the author of Emperor's Four Treasuries: Scholars and the State in the Late Qianlong Period and coeditor of Limits on the Rule of Law in China.--"This extremely important, solid, carefully researched, highly intelligent, and well-informed work is a much-needed contribution to the field of late imperial Chinese history, and has implications as well for China's subsequent and current history."--William T. Rowe, Johns Hopkins University--"The range of this book is astounding. Guy's findings are significant both for deep historical understanding of his period of focus as well as for implications for the present day. This will be required reading not only for scholars of the early and middle Qing period, but also for those who seek historical background."--Beatrice Bartlett, Yale University---