LAW’S ORIENT CONSTITUTES a wide and uneven terrain. Th is book describes the itinerary of one par tic u lar journey across that terrain, with a focus on China and the United States. Law is a key aspect of the po liti cal ontology of the modern world. It is exceedingly diffi cult, if not impossible, for us to think of politics outside of the framework of states, and of states outside of law. At the same time, no understanding of the world today is complete without consideration of China’s place in it. Th e diffi culties begin when we seek to combine the inquiries into law and China. Where is China in law’s world? And why is the United States an important part of the answer to that question?