Two interesting books on China by Nicolas Tackett

The first is aboutchanges in the elite composition from Tang to Soong dynasties during which some culling if the elites seems to have taken place. The first is titled 'The destruction if the medieval Chinese aristocracy' https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674492059 it is based on author's thesis a ailable here https://history.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/tackett_dissertation.pdf The second is titled 'The origins of the Chinese nation': "The present book is concerned with a form of Chinese nationalism that materialized at the court of northern song (960–1127) China. it seeks to describe this phenomenon and to explain its emer- gence, largely on the basis of the new inter-state dynamics of eleventh- century northeast asia. " https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Chinese-Nation-China-Forging/dp/131664748X