How well do the thoughts and writings of philosophers travel across time and place? Do they gain greater resonance, potency and influence? Or as ambassador Yanzi responded to the King of Chu, ‘Ju yu Huai, wei Zhi’ – ‘oranges grown south of the river Huai become tangerines when planted on the north’. As the title suggests, Machiavelli in Northeast Asia is a collection of essays edited by Jun-Hyeok Kwak that seeks to explore the reception and influence of Machiavelli’s thought and works in Northeast Asia.