Crime and the City: the criminal underworld in sixteenth century Peking
The presence of a criminal underworld is one of the characteristics of a metropolis. A city unplagued by an underworld, without its share of confidence tricksters and swindlers, burglars and pick-pockets, gambling dens and houses of ill-repute, would probably not be generally counted as a great city. This is certainly true today, and it was also true four hundred years ago, and even earlier. Peki
