UnrulyPeopleshowsthatinmid-QingGuangdongbanditryoccurredmainlyinthedenselypopulatedcoreCantondeltawherestatepowerwasstrongest,challengingtheconventionalwisdomthatbanditrywasmostprevalentinperipheralareas.Throughextensivearchivalresearch,Antonyrevealsthatthisisbecausethelocalworkingpoorhadnootheroptionstoensuretheirlivelihood.
In1780theQinggovernmentenactedthefirstofaseriesofspeciallawstodealspecificallywithGuangdongbanditswhoplunderedonlandandwater.Thenewlawwaspromptedbywhatofficialsdescribedasaspiraling“banditmiasma”intheprovincethathadbeensimmeringfordecades.Tounderstandtheneedforthespeciallaws,UnrulyPeopletakesacloserlookatthecomplexrelationshipsandinterconnectionsbetweenbandits,swornbrotherhoods,localcommunities,andtheQingstateinGuangdongfrom1760to1845.
Antonytreatscollectivecrimeasasymptomofthedysfunctioninlocalsocietyandbreakdownoftheimperiallegalsystem.Heanalyzesover2,300criminalcasesfoundinpalaceandroutinememorialsintheQingarchives,aswellasextantChineseliteraryandforeignsourcesandfieldworkinruralGuangdong,torecreatevividdetailsoflateimperialChina’sunderworldofcrimeandviolence.
