In the second half of the eleventh century, China witnessed an unprecedented wave of legal reform that expanded state regulation of social life. In this innovative study, Yinan Luo explores what motivated lawmakers as they confronted political conflict, social complexity, and competing visions of good governance. Through a cultural-historical analysis of elite political imagination, Luo argues that legal reform emerged from a collective effort to uncover the realities underlying legal disputes and to develop strategies for achieving a more unified political order. These efforts sought to elicit public commitment to shared ideals and were shaped through sustained dialogue among actors holding divergent Confucian worldviews. By tracing the interplay between structural tensions, political thought, and legal practice, this book offers a compelling account of how historical change took shape in Song China. Combining rich historical analysis with theoretical sophistication, the book provides a fresh perspective on law, governance, and political culture.