This text provides an in-depth study of an ethnic minority region during the first decade of the People's Republic of China: the Amdo region in the Sino-Tibetan borderland. Employing previously inaccessible local archives as well as other rare primary sources, the work demonstrates that the Communist Party's goal in 1950s Amdo was not just state-building, but also nation-building.

Previously issued in print: 2020.