On 8 December 2022, GAPP hosted Mr Yuhua Wang, a professor in the department of government at Harvard University, for a live discussion on his book “The Rise and Fall of Imperial China: The Social Origins of State Development”. The book was published in 2022 by Princeton University Press. Among other issues addressed by Professor Wang – his elegant social network analysis of Chinese imperial elites stands out. The author points to the effects of the territorial distribution of elite family relationships and their influence on the shape of the Chinese state, throwing up clues to understanding how social relationships influence the trajectory of state development.