Jonathan Spence is the doyen. Formerly a Brit, now an American, his book output on China is prolific.
One of his best is Treason by The Book (2001), a case study on the Yongzheng Emperor and the Chinese bureaucratic ability to record and track an individual’s movements and life over decades. Such is the love of the Chinese to record.
Love of de Chinese to record….the Indians even say that without Xuan zhang’s record of history of India during de period when ge was there, that part of Indian history would have bn non existent! That’s why he is de most revered Chinese in India.