Drawing on previously untapped British and Chinese documents, this is a comparative study of British and Chinese administrative methods in the small rural district of Weihaiwei in the northeast Shantung Province. The British leased the territory from the Chinese in 1898 with the intention of maintaining traditional forms of government whenever possible. But in 1930, the Chinese officials of Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist government stepped in to administer the area. Ignoring the province's governmental heritage, instituting an inappropriate bureaucratic structure, and imposing continuous tax demands, they ultimately lost the faith and respect of the local people. A foreword by Dr. N. J. Miners compares and contrasts Weihaiwei's rendition to China in 1930 with the forthcoming return to Hong Kong to China in 1997.