This book started its life in 1994 when I was sitting in a library in China and came across some handbooks of police regulations that had been misfiled. These handbooks opened the door to research on an area that has taken me twelve years to complete. Throughout the extended period of this project, I have accumulated many debts to a large number of people who have helped and supported me in different ways. My friends in China have helped me find documents and material; discussed ideas and laws; and aided my understanding of the changing organisation and culture of power, which, from the outside, often appears incomprehensible. I thank.
