“In providing the first book-length study in English of Eric Voegelin’s account of the Chinese ecumene, Muen Liu has succeeded in demonstrating the validity of Voegelin’s ‘hermeneutic empirical paradigm’ for understanding the plurality of civilizations that avoids the extremes of either Eurocentrism or cultural relativism. His study comes at a crucial time when intercultural understanding between China and the West is most needed.”