Professor Hafner is recently striving to deconstruct and reconstruct the "Chineseness" of Chinese history by focusing on the comparative legal history of Chinese states. Chinese states are states that utilized the Chinese language for the construction of their legal institutions. These states exhibit an astonishing variety of ethnic and socioeconomic background, and are witnessed throughout history in a geographical range as broad as Eastern Eurasia. Reducing "Chineseness" to the official use of the Chinese language is an efficacious way to liberate the Chinese history from the narrow confines of the modern nation state, while maintaining a comprehensive understanding of its significance and influence on our global history.