In 1728 a stranger handed a letter to Governor Yue calling on him to lead a rebellion against the Manchu rulers of China. Feigning greement, he learnt the details of the plot and informed the Emperor, Yongzheng. The riingleaders were captured with ease, forced to recant and, to the confusion and outrage of the public, spared. Drawing a wealth of documentary evidence - over 150 secret documents between the Emperor and his agents - the author has recreated this revolt of the scholars in all its details. It a story of unworldly dreams of a better world and the facts of a bureaucratic power, of the kind of an Emperor and of the uses of his mercy.