Yu (humanities, Divinity School, U. of Chicago) has considerably expanded a lecture he delivered in Berkeley in the autumn of 2002, and the article version published in Religion East and West 3 (June 2003, pp. 1-20). He argues that there has never been a period in China's historical past in which the government of the state, in imperial and post-imperial form, has pursued a neutral policy toward religion, let alone encouraged what Americans like to call its free exercise. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)