Far from the glittering cities of Beijing and Shaghai, China`s borderlands are populated by around one hundred million people who are not Han Chinese. For many of these restive minorities, the old Chinese adage `the mountains are high and the Emperor far away`, meaning Beijing`s grip on power is tenuous and its influence unwelcome, continues to resonate. Travelling through China`s most distant and unknown reaches, David Eimer explores the increasingly tense relationship between the Han Chinese and the ethnic minorities. Deconstructing the myths represented by Beijing, Eimer reveals a shocking and fascinating picture of a China that is more of an empire than a country.