Feng Rui was a prominent public figure in China who, in 1936, was arrested and executed for "corruption and embezzlement" and (in his role as director of a provincial program of investment in sugar milling) "purchasing foreign sugar to pass it off as produced by Government factories." Hill (history, Queen's U., UK) investigates Feng Rui's career and death, connecting the facts of the case to broader issues of the formation of China as a national economy. She argues that Feng Rui's death served political purposes of diverting public attention from the actions of others involved with the smuggling of commodities subject to national tariffs which had been implemented in 1929 and were having a contentious impact on coastal commerce. She also explores Feng Rui's role in the formation of China's system of agricultural production and his work in advocating on behalf of Guangdong's provincial economic interests. Distributed in the US by UTP Distribution. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)