Chinese Policing

The Author: Kam C. Wong earned his B.A. (Hons.) and J.D. from Indiana University (Bloomington). He obtained his Ph.D. in criminal justice from SUNY-Albany, and earned the Remington Award for Distinguished Work in Law and Social Science. He was Director of the Chinese Law Program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and has served as the vice-president of the Hong Kong Society of Criminology and vice-chair of the Center of Criminology at Hong Kong University. Professor Wong was an Inspector of Police with the Hong Kong Police, and has practiced and taught law in the U.S. and Hong Kong.

«Kam C. Wong’s book integrates the comparative knowledge of policing with a detailed and immensely erudite analysis of the police in China, in the past and now. Drawing on his (…) extensive and intimate knowledge of Chinese history, culture, philosophy, ideology, and recent economic, political and legal changes, he presents a masterful synthesis of the forces that have shaped the policing systems of China over time. His main argument is that existing descriptions of the Chinese police severely underestimate the complexity and variety of policing that is done in China, [and that Chinese] (…) policing systems (…) can only be understood and correctly interpreted through the lens of Chinese culture and ideology.» (Otwin Marenin, Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice, Washington State University)«This detailed study of the history and evolution of policing in China lays the basis for comparative research, sheds light on the challenges and prospects of maintaining law and order in such a huge and rapidly developing country as China, and provides policy-makers important insights for a much needed, more effective, reform agenda.» (Randall Peerenboom, Professor of Law, La Trobe University; Associate Fellow, Oxford University Centre for Socio-Legal Studies)«A unique window on the cultural and political foundations of contemporary Chinese policing [and] an important contribution to comparative criminology. (Peter Grabosky, Australian National University)«This book provides an important contribution to our understanding of historical and contemporary Chinese policing. Of particular interest is the author’s theory of ‘Police Power as a Social Resource’ which, drawing upon Chinese theory and practice, challenges us to think beyond the conventional ‘Anglo-American’ (police-led) models of community policing which have dominated so much contemporary debate.» (Professor Les Johnston, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom)