Among hundreds of thousands of ancient graves and tombs excavated to date in China, the Mancheng site stands out for its unparalleled complexity and richness. It features juxtaposed burials of the first king and queen of the Zhongshan kingdom (dated late second century BCE). The male tomb occupant, King Liu Sheng (d. 113 BCE), was sent by his father, Emperor Jing (r. 157–141 BCE), to rule the Zhongshan kingdom near the northern frontier of the Western Han Empire, neighboring the nomadic Xiongnu confederation.

Modeling Peace interprets Western Han royal burial as a political ideology by closely reading the architecture and funerary content of this site and situating it in the historical context of imperialization in Western Han China. Through a study of both the archaeological materials and related received and excavated texts, Jie Shi demonstrates that the Mancheng site was planned and designed as a unity of religious, gender, and intercultural concerns. The site was built under the supervision of the future occupants of the royal tomb, who used these burials to assert their political ideology based on Huang-Lao and Confucian thought: a good ruler is one who pacifies himself, his family, and his country. This book is the first scholarly monograph on an undisturbed and fully excavated early Chinese royal burial site.

"[This] book will enlighten readers interested not only in Chinese funerary art but also in the ongoing dialogue between art history, material culture studies, and the history of thought. Thanks to Shi’s lucid, vivid writing, its sophisticated argument, which weaves together seemingly arcane material, becomes accessible and enjoyable." - CAA Reviews

"I highly recommend the book not only for archaeologists in the field of Chinese archaeology but also for Sinologists. Shi Jie writes with a clarity that makes this book accessible also for Western researchers interested in royal tombs of Early China." - Monumenta Serica

"Modeling Peace is the first in-depth analysis of the Mancheng tombs in the English language and has much to offer . . . Jie Shi certainly has created a great foundation against which all future research on Western Han royal tombs will be measured." - Journal of Chinese Religions