This important study explores the multifaceted experience of Mongols in China, past and present, as their identity balances precariously between historical memory and their contemporary position as an ethnic minority. Uradyn E. Bulag assesses the intricate relationship between socialism and nationalism that generates both resistance and complicity and defines the moral dilemmas that have confronted Mongols and Chinese in negotiating nationality issues. Written by an indigenous anthropologist trained in the West, the work is informed by the author's sophisticated understanding of theory and personal sense of society and history. Breaking new ground in the study of Chinese and Mongol history and ethnicity, the author offers a fresh interpretation of China viewed from the perspective of its peripheries.