Book excerpt: In Mediation in Contemporary Chinese Civil Justice, Peter Chan offers one of the most comprehensive analyses of the system of mediation of civil and commercial disputes in contemporary China. Based on extensive interviews with judges and a survey on in-court mediation covering 24 courts in China, the author seeks to answer a question that interests many legal scholars: Is it practically feasible for the mediation of civil disputes in China to take the shape of genuine alternative dispute resolution, rather than being used by the courts as a means to preserve social stability? The book looks beyond procedural rules and examines how judicial culture and beliefs shape the landscape of civil dispute resolution in China.