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The "Chinese Etiquette Controversy" was a major event that took place in China in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, spread to Europe, and had an impact on subsequent Western and Chinese cultures. The core of the debate concerns Chinese sacrificial rituals, such as "reverence to heaven", "sacrifice to ancestors" and "sacrifice to Confucius". Confucian Catholics such as Xu Guangqi maintained sacrifices after their conversion, while Jesuits such as Matteo Ricci tolerated it with a tolerant attitude of "complementing Confucianism and changing Buddhism." This practice was later questioned and finally led to conflicts during the Kangxi period. Enlightenment thinkers such as Leibniz, Voltaire, and Montesquieu participated in the debate, and European "Sinology" formed a series of views on this, which profoundly affected the history of Chinese thought in the 20th century. This book uses the newly published Chinese documents of the "Chinese Etiquette Controversy" to provide a detailed description of this period of history for the first time, and points out its importance in the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, church history, Chinese and Western cultural exchanges, and comparative classical studies.

This book is a monograph that uses cultural anthropology methods to study the sacrificial system in Jiangnan. The author Li Tiangang selected Jinze Town in Qingpu, Shanghai as the main research case. He conducted field surveys for many years, consulted a large number of relevant local chronicles of prefectures, prefectures, counties, townships, and towns, and explored the close connection between official Confucian classics, festivals, and folk local sacrificial systems in the Jiangnan region.

This book contains 51 book reviews and column articles published by Professor Li Tiangang in the media in the past two decades. This updated edition adds 28 new works based on the first edition (2011 edition by Shanghai Bookstore Press). The book has about 160,000 words, and the content mostly involves the modern history of China. The author has a profound knowledge of culture and history, the writing is meaningful and philosophical, the historical facts and anecdotes are readily available, and the articles are easy to understand and fascinating. Look at corrupt officials from He Shen, look at diplomacy from Li Hongzhang, look at democracy from Yuan Shikai... There is no heavy and cold grand narrative in the book, but a comprehensive and vivid history scene by scene.