03825. THE NATURE OF SUNG URRANIZATIONS. Very good, very sophisticated study of the rapid urbanization that occurred in the Sung dynasty of Imperial China (960-1279 A.D.). Develops the argument that this urbanization was related to the political importance of major cities, rather than rise of commercial exchange; a great deal of time is spent elucidating Marxist theories of the "Asiatic state," and explaining why and how these theories do not negate the idea of a bureaucratic-managerial elite (the Chinese scholar-gentry) dominating society. 35 pages, 56 footnotes, 18 bibliographic sources.