Clarendon Studies in Criminology aims to provide a forum for outstanding empirical and theoretical work in all aspects of criminology and criminal justice, broadly understood. The Editors welcome submissions from established scholars, as well as excellent PhD work. The Series was inaugurated in 1994, with Roger Hood as its first General Editor, following discussions between Oxford University Press and three criminology centres. It is edited under the auspices of these three centres: the Cambridge Institute of Criminology, the Mannheim Centre for Criminology at the London School of Economics, and the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford. Each supplies members of the Editorial Board and, in turn, the Series Editor or Editors. Peng Wang’s book The Chinese Mafia: Organised Crime, Corruption and Extra- legal Protection, based on his PhD thesis from King’s College London, gives an insight into what the world might look like if the rule of law was only partially operational, or indeed, broke down altogether. The need for extra- legal protection and enforcement becomes evident. Wang’s book is not the first to explore these issues. Gambetta’s (1993) The Sicilian Mafia traced the role of a weak state, a weak judicial system, rampant corruption and an urgent need to protect private property rights as the precursors to the emergence of the Sicilian Mafia. Varese’s (2001) study of the Russian Mafia documented similar themes. But Wang’s book is based in China, where the authoritarian party- state is strong, albeit seemingly not strong enough to resist the rise of a Chinese Mafia, or protect its own government officials. Peng Wang is the first to offer a scholarly account of the rise of the Chinese Mafia in the post Mao- era. This is not a historical study of Chinese secret societies, like the Shanghai Green Gang, or of the Triads. It is a contemporary study of the collusion between organized crime and state corruption. And one that was conducted at a time of massive economic expansion in China, and during a period when China was reaching out to world. The financial gains to be made were spectacular.