3 Review(s)

Part history, part biography, and part mystery story, SmokelessSugar traces the formation of a national economy in China throughan intriguing investigation of the 1936 execution of an allegedlycorrupt Cantonese official. Feng Rui, a Western-educated agriculturalexpert, introduced modern sugar milling to China in the 1930s as a keycomponent in a provincial investment program. Before long, however, hewas accused of colluding with smugglers to pass foreign sugar off as adomestic product. Emily Hill makes the case that Feng was, in fact, ascapegoat in a multi-sided power struggle in which political leadersvied with commercial players for access to China's markets and taxrevenues.