Offers an account of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service, a cosmopolitan institution established in the wake of China's defeat in the Opium Wars (1842 to 43). This work provides an overview of the Service, its bureaucracy, fiscal responsibilities and life for foreigners in its employ, focusing on the later years of the Service.

Delivering an overview of the Service, its bureaucracy, fiscal responsibilities and life for foreigners in its employ, focusing especially on the later years of the Service, Donna Brunero draws on the experiences of the foreign administration of the Service as it attempted to negotiate between Chinese and foreign expectations and interests.

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. An Institutional Review
3. Gunboats and Revenue
4. Nationalist Ascendancy and the Politics of being Inspector General
5. Charting a New Course: The Proposed Hong Kong -- China Trade and Customs Agreement, 1929-30
6. A Service in Decline
7. 'Steadfast and fearlessly persistent': the CMCS in the face of War 1937-45
Bibliography