Matthew H. Sommer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520287037
- eISBN:
- 9780520962194
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287037.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book uses over 1,200 legal cases from Qing dynasty archives to analyze polyandry, wife-selling, and other practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual and reproductive labor to help support her ...
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This book uses over 1,200 legal cases from Qing dynasty archives to analyze polyandry, wife-selling, and other practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual and reproductive labor to help support her family. This analysis reveals the roles played by marriage, sex, and reproduction in survival strategies under conditions of overpopulation, worsening sex ratios, and shrinking farm sizes. If we focus on social practice among the poor (instead of the normative discourse), normative boundaries between marriage and the traffic in women—and between marriage and sex work—cannot be sustained. With polyandry, an outside male would be incorporated into a couple’s household as the wife’s second husband or the first husband’s sworn brother. Polyandry was a strategy to keep the family together by expanding it, raising the ratio of laborers to consumers. In contrast, wife sale was a strategy to survive by breaking up the family, creating a new marriage in the process. In the mid-range of the spectrum, there were less formal arrangements (including polyamory and marital prostitution), whereby a wife would have sex with other men in exchange for their support. This book analyzes the interplay of ideology and practice in Qing law by showing how magistrates charged with enforcing a fundamentalist vision of female chastity coped with widespread wife sales. This contradiction illuminates both the pragmatism of routine adjudication and the increasingly dysfunctional nature of the dynastic state facing mounting social crisis. These prohibited transactions were part of a broader field of illicit customs that flourished in defiance of prohibition.Less
This book uses over 1,200 legal cases from Qing dynasty archives to analyze polyandry, wife-selling, and other practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual and reproductive labor to help support her family. This analysis reveals the roles played by marriage, sex, and reproduction in survival strategies under conditions of overpopulation, worsening sex ratios, and shrinking farm sizes. If we focus on social practice among the poor (instead of the normative discourse), normative boundaries between marriage and the traffic in women—and between marriage and sex work—cannot be sustained. With polyandry, an outside male would be incorporated into a couple’s household as the wife’s second husband or the first husband’s sworn brother. Polyandry was a strategy to keep the family together by expanding it, raising the ratio of laborers to consumers. In contrast, wife sale was a strategy to survive by breaking up the family, creating a new marriage in the process. In the mid-range of the spectrum, there were less formal arrangements (including polyamory and marital prostitution), whereby a wife would have sex with other men in exchange for their support. This book analyzes the interplay of ideology and practice in Qing law by showing how magistrates charged with enforcing a fundamentalist vision of female chastity coped with widespread wife sales. This contradiction illuminates both the pragmatism of routine adjudication and the increasingly dysfunctional nature of the dynastic state facing mounting social crisis. These prohibited transactions were part of a broader field of illicit customs that flourished in defiance of prohibition.
Evelyn Rawski
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520212893
- eISBN:
- 9780520926790
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520212893.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) was the last and arguably the greatest of the conquest dynasties to rule China. Its rulers, Manchus from the north, held power for three centuries despite major cultural ...
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The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) was the last and arguably the greatest of the conquest dynasties to rule China. Its rulers, Manchus from the north, held power for three centuries despite major cultural and ideological differences with the Han majority. This book offers a new interpretation of the remarkable success of this dynasty, arguing that it derived not from the assimilation of the dominant Chinese culture, as has previously been believed, but rather from an artful synthesis of Manchu leadership styles with Han Chinese policies.Less
The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) was the last and arguably the greatest of the conquest dynasties to rule China. Its rulers, Manchus from the north, held power for three centuries despite major cultural and ideological differences with the Han majority. This book offers a new interpretation of the remarkable success of this dynasty, arguing that it derived not from the assimilation of the dominant Chinese culture, as has previously been believed, but rather from an artful synthesis of Manchu leadership styles with Han Chinese policies.
Shuo Wang
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520254435
- eISBN:
- 9780520941519
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520254435.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), when the Manchus ruled China, palace women played a significant role in maintaining Manchu ethnic identity and constructing a multiethnic empire. They can be ...
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During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), when the Manchus ruled China, palace women played a significant role in maintaining Manchu ethnic identity and constructing a multiethnic empire. They can be divided into two categories: imperial consorts (empresses and concubines), who entered the palace through marriage, and Aisin Gioro daughters, who received imperial membership by birth. Starting in the eighteenth century, imperial consorts were selected exclusively from the hereditary military units known as banners. As for imperial daughters, the emperors usually married them to Manchu high officials or to the elite of other ethnic groups in order to buy support and cooperation. Imperial daughters thus played a significant role in shaping Qing territory and stabilizing Manchu rule. When examining imperial marriage from the perspective of the interaction of gender, ethnicity, and social status, one can see that in taking wives the Qing court was more concerned with ethnicity, while giving wives social status became a more significant consideration.Less
During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), when the Manchus ruled China, palace women played a significant role in maintaining Manchu ethnic identity and constructing a multiethnic empire. They can be divided into two categories: imperial consorts (empresses and concubines), who entered the palace through marriage, and Aisin Gioro daughters, who received imperial membership by birth. Starting in the eighteenth century, imperial consorts were selected exclusively from the hereditary military units known as banners. As for imperial daughters, the emperors usually married them to Manchu high officials or to the elite of other ethnic groups in order to buy support and cooperation. Imperial daughters thus played a significant role in shaping Qing territory and stabilizing Manchu rule. When examining imperial marriage from the perspective of the interaction of gender, ethnicity, and social status, one can see that in taking wives the Qing court was more concerned with ethnicity, while giving wives social status became a more significant consideration.
Dagmar Schäfer
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265321
- eISBN:
- 9780191760495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265321.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
The Chinese of the Ming/Qing dynasties took a distinctive approach to technology and innovation. The Chinese assigned a place and function to technologies and their products in statecraft, public ...
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The Chinese of the Ming/Qing dynasties took a distinctive approach to technology and innovation. The Chinese assigned a place and function to technologies and their products in statecraft, public life, and scholarly achievements. Ming connoisseurs valued craftsmanship, and porcelain and silk were used to negotiate political control and economic interests. But free markets emerged for these products of craftsmanship. This chapter charts how products were marketed, and how original designs and techniques were claimed and marked by their craftsmen.Less
The Chinese of the Ming/Qing dynasties took a distinctive approach to technology and innovation. The Chinese assigned a place and function to technologies and their products in statecraft, public life, and scholarly achievements. Ming connoisseurs valued craftsmanship, and porcelain and silk were used to negotiate political control and economic interests. But free markets emerged for these products of craftsmanship. This chapter charts how products were marketed, and how original designs and techniques were claimed and marked by their craftsmen.
Matthew H. Sommer
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520211032
- eISBN:
- 9780520935303
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520211032.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter examines how Qing jurists imagined masculinity and male sexual behavior in the larger context of defending familial order. The High Qing regulation of sexuality aimed to defend a ...
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This chapter examines how Qing jurists imagined masculinity and male sexual behavior in the larger context of defending familial order. The High Qing regulation of sexuality aimed to defend a Confucian vision of family-based order against the threat of men who were excluded from that order. The principal target of Qing efforts to regulate male sexual conduct was the marginal man who stood outside of (and presumably opposed to) the family-based social and moral order that underpinned the imperial state. In addition, the judicial constructs of the Qing dynasty, and especially its attempts to regulate sexuality, has to be understood against a social background in which men outnumbered women, so that patriarchal stability was perceived as under constant threat from a crowd of rogue males at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale. The household of the normative male, that microcosm of imperial order, was under siege; the purpose of law was to strengthen its defense.Less
This chapter examines how Qing jurists imagined masculinity and male sexual behavior in the larger context of defending familial order. The High Qing regulation of sexuality aimed to defend a Confucian vision of family-based order against the threat of men who were excluded from that order. The principal target of Qing efforts to regulate male sexual conduct was the marginal man who stood outside of (and presumably opposed to) the family-based social and moral order that underpinned the imperial state. In addition, the judicial constructs of the Qing dynasty, and especially its attempts to regulate sexuality, has to be understood against a social background in which men outnumbered women, so that patriarchal stability was perceived as under constant threat from a crowd of rogue males at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale. The household of the normative male, that microcosm of imperial order, was under siege; the purpose of law was to strengthen its defense.
Evelyn S. Rawski
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520231269
- eISBN:
- 9780520927797
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520231269.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter provides an account of the books written and published in non-Han languages in China during the Qing Dynasty. It describes the materials published in non-Chinese languages, and their ...
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This chapter provides an account of the books written and published in non-Han languages in China during the Qing Dynasty. It describes the materials published in non-Chinese languages, and their authors, publishers, and readers. The chapter argues that the publication of literatures in Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan languages was stimulated in both direct and indirect ways by Qing rule.Less
This chapter provides an account of the books written and published in non-Han languages in China during the Qing Dynasty. It describes the materials published in non-Chinese languages, and their authors, publishers, and readers. The chapter argues that the publication of literatures in Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan languages was stimulated in both direct and indirect ways by Qing rule.
Karla W. Simon
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199765898
- eISBN:
- 9780199332540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199765898.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Legal History
This chapter examines the various charitable organizations and other associations in the Ming and Qing dynasties. As time went on different kinds of organizations began to flourish (including illegal ...
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This chapter examines the various charitable organizations and other associations in the Ming and Qing dynasties. As time went on different kinds of organizations began to flourish (including illegal ones), and they contributed to the fall of the imperial era. By the end of the Qing dynasty, civil society was firmly entrenched in China and legal rules were being devised to protect it. It was only a matter of time before the greater protections of the Nationalist era would lead to more space for charity and associational life, and the chaos of the war years strengthened charity.Less
This chapter examines the various charitable organizations and other associations in the Ming and Qing dynasties. As time went on different kinds of organizations began to flourish (including illegal ones), and they contributed to the fall of the imperial era. By the end of the Qing dynasty, civil society was firmly entrenched in China and legal rules were being devised to protect it. It was only a matter of time before the greater protections of the Nationalist era would lead to more space for charity and associational life, and the chaos of the war years strengthened charity.
Matthew H. Sommer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520287037
- eISBN:
- 9780520962194
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287037.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Chapter 10 analyzes formal law and central-court interpretation of wife sale (and, secondarily, polyandry) from Ming through High Qing and shows that the main innovation of the Qing dynasty was a ...
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Chapter 10 analyzes formal law and central-court interpretation of wife sale (and, secondarily, polyandry) from Ming through High Qing and shows that the main innovation of the Qing dynasty was a dramatic expansion of criminalization. As a result, all prostitution and polyandry was prohibited (as the crime of “abetting a wife to engage in illicit sex with another man,” or zong jian), as were wife sales motivated solely by poverty (as the crime of “buying or selling a divorce,” or maixiu). The chapter also explains legally acceptable divorce, wife sale by court order, and the legal standing of wife sales involving concubines and slaves.Less
Chapter 10 analyzes formal law and central-court interpretation of wife sale (and, secondarily, polyandry) from Ming through High Qing and shows that the main innovation of the Qing dynasty was a dramatic expansion of criminalization. As a result, all prostitution and polyandry was prohibited (as the crime of “abetting a wife to engage in illicit sex with another man,” or zong jian), as were wife sales motivated solely by poverty (as the crime of “buying or selling a divorce,” or maixiu). The chapter also explains legally acceptable divorce, wife sale by court order, and the legal standing of wife sales involving concubines and slaves.
Timothy Brook, Michael van Walt van Praag, and Miek Boltjes (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226562629
- eISBN:
- 9780226562933
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226562933.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The Qing Great State, founded by the Manchus in 1636, absorbed Ming China into a polity that ruled East Asia for close to three centuries. To recruit sources for their legitimacy, the Manchus drew on ...
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The Qing Great State, founded by the Manchus in 1636, absorbed Ming China into a polity that ruled East Asia for close to three centuries. To recruit sources for their legitimacy, the Manchus drew on Inner Asian Mongol and Tibetan Buddhist practices and forms of authority as well as Chinese. The Qing emperor was thus at once the Great Khan who commanded the allegiance of Chinggisid princes, the emanation of Manjusri who was recognized by the Dalai Lama, and the emperor at the apex of the Chinese tribute system. The realm the Qing emperor ruled was managed through particular relationships strategically developed with the ruling elites of each part of his realm in accordance with their respective worldviews. Stabilized from three different sources, the Qing was able to pursue a process of empire-building that dominated much of Asia at a time when states based in Europe were also building world empires. Skillful management of relations in these different legal orders held the whole together, but empire-building was a military project and could be sustained only through an investment of resources at a level. By the nineteenth century, the Qing was not able to meet these costs.Less
The Qing Great State, founded by the Manchus in 1636, absorbed Ming China into a polity that ruled East Asia for close to three centuries. To recruit sources for their legitimacy, the Manchus drew on Inner Asian Mongol and Tibetan Buddhist practices and forms of authority as well as Chinese. The Qing emperor was thus at once the Great Khan who commanded the allegiance of Chinggisid princes, the emanation of Manjusri who was recognized by the Dalai Lama, and the emperor at the apex of the Chinese tribute system. The realm the Qing emperor ruled was managed through particular relationships strategically developed with the ruling elites of each part of his realm in accordance with their respective worldviews. Stabilized from three different sources, the Qing was able to pursue a process of empire-building that dominated much of Asia at a time when states based in Europe were also building world empires. Skillful management of relations in these different legal orders held the whole together, but empire-building was a military project and could be sustained only through an investment of resources at a level. By the nineteenth century, the Qing was not able to meet these costs.
Niv Horesh
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780804787192
- eISBN:
- 9780804788540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804787192.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
Western sources by and large did not provide an incisive answer as to the question of precisely why government and privately-issued paper money went into decline in China through much of the late ...
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Western sources by and large did not provide an incisive answer as to the question of precisely why government and privately-issued paper money went into decline in China through much of the late imperial era: how and precisely when privately issued notes reemerged and how important a component they were within the late imperial monetary system. Neither did they explain in great detail whether the gradual reemergence of privately issued banknotes in China—which could be traced back to the latter part of the eighteenth century at the earliest—had anything to do with global financial stimuli. This chapter is designed to correct the gap in the academic literature on these issues.Less
Western sources by and large did not provide an incisive answer as to the question of precisely why government and privately-issued paper money went into decline in China through much of the late imperial era: how and precisely when privately issued notes reemerged and how important a component they were within the late imperial monetary system. Neither did they explain in great detail whether the gradual reemergence of privately issued banknotes in China—which could be traced back to the latter part of the eighteenth century at the earliest—had anything to do with global financial stimuli. This chapter is designed to correct the gap in the academic literature on these issues.
Megan Bryson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780804799546
- eISBN:
- 9781503600454
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804799546.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
As the Ming dynasty continued and gave way to the Qing, more migrants from the empire’s eastern and central regions made their way to Yunnan. Baijie Furen, the third form of Baijie, emerged as a ...
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As the Ming dynasty continued and gave way to the Qing, more migrants from the empire’s eastern and central regions made their way to Yunnan. Baijie Furen, the third form of Baijie, emerged as a result of this increasing contact between Han outsiders and Dali locals. This chapter argues that Baijie Furen, portrayed in legend as an eighth-century widow martyr, supplanted the earlier forms of Baijie because of her multifaceted identity: for Dali elites, she signified the region’s long history of Confucian virtues, which marked it as civilized; for Ming and Qing elites, her exceptional example proved that imperial civilizing projects could succeed. In both cases Baijie Furen served as a proxy for the Bai people because male elites correlated a population’s civilization with women’s sexual propriety.Less
As the Ming dynasty continued and gave way to the Qing, more migrants from the empire’s eastern and central regions made their way to Yunnan. Baijie Furen, the third form of Baijie, emerged as a result of this increasing contact between Han outsiders and Dali locals. This chapter argues that Baijie Furen, portrayed in legend as an eighth-century widow martyr, supplanted the earlier forms of Baijie because of her multifaceted identity: for Dali elites, she signified the region’s long history of Confucian virtues, which marked it as civilized; for Ming and Qing elites, her exceptional example proved that imperial civilizing projects could succeed. In both cases Baijie Furen served as a proxy for the Bai people because male elites correlated a population’s civilization with women’s sexual propriety.
Françoise Lauwaert
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199580910
- eISBN:
- 9780191723025
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199580910.003.0020
- Subject:
- Law, Comparative Law
This chapter takes up the methodological challenge to consider a series of 18th- and 19th-century juridical texts as a particular kind of anthropological corpus. The reading of a part of that ...
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This chapter takes up the methodological challenge to consider a series of 18th- and 19th-century juridical texts as a particular kind of anthropological corpus. The reading of a part of that literature unveils a rich and complex reflection on causality, responsibility, and guilt. But what is most remarkable for an anthropologist is the way in which these categories were altered, to the extent of being inverted, when applied to the field of kinship defined by three instances: mourning, genealogy, and gender. The main sources are various editions of the code of the Qing dynasty, imperial edicts, and a huge collection of cases entitled Conspectus of Penal Cases (Xing'an huilan). Compiled by two officials of the Board of Punishments, this book belongs to a genre called ‘government books’ (zhengshu) including manuals for the magistrates, technical treatises on administration, and compilations of cases judged in all the provinces of the empire.Less
This chapter takes up the methodological challenge to consider a series of 18th- and 19th-century juridical texts as a particular kind of anthropological corpus. The reading of a part of that literature unveils a rich and complex reflection on causality, responsibility, and guilt. But what is most remarkable for an anthropologist is the way in which these categories were altered, to the extent of being inverted, when applied to the field of kinship defined by three instances: mourning, genealogy, and gender. The main sources are various editions of the code of the Qing dynasty, imperial edicts, and a huge collection of cases entitled Conspectus of Penal Cases (Xing'an huilan). Compiled by two officials of the Board of Punishments, this book belongs to a genre called ‘government books’ (zhengshu) including manuals for the magistrates, technical treatises on administration, and compilations of cases judged in all the provinces of the empire.
Achim Mittag
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199219179
- eISBN:
- 9780191804267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199219179.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History
This chapter deals with historical writing under the Ming and Qing dynasties. Historical writing was traditionally a state-run project, which consisted in the collection and compilation of sources ...
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This chapter deals with historical writing under the Ming and Qing dynasties. Historical writing was traditionally a state-run project, which consisted in the collection and compilation of sources for the production of ‘official histories’. The chapter covers the compilation of the official Yuan history and the veritable records; the formation of state historiography under the Qing and the writing of the history of the official Ming dynasty; gazetteer historiography; and the apogee of official historiography under emperor Qianlong. It also describes the unfolding and profusion of kaozheng (‘evidential research’) scholarship that went beyond personal affiliation with state historiographical institutions.Less
This chapter deals with historical writing under the Ming and Qing dynasties. Historical writing was traditionally a state-run project, which consisted in the collection and compilation of sources for the production of ‘official histories’. The chapter covers the compilation of the official Yuan history and the veritable records; the formation of state historiography under the Qing and the writing of the history of the official Ming dynasty; gazetteer historiography; and the apogee of official historiography under emperor Qianlong. It also describes the unfolding and profusion of kaozheng (‘evidential research’) scholarship that went beyond personal affiliation with state historiographical institutions.
Ho-fung Hung
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231164184
- eISBN:
- 9780231540223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231164184.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Asian Politics
Chapter 1 discusses how the massive influx of American silver into seventeenth- and eighteenth-century China fueled a commercial revolution that made China the most advanced market economy in the ...
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Chapter 1 discusses how the massive influx of American silver into seventeenth- and eighteenth-century China fueled a commercial revolution that made China the most advanced market economy in the early modern world, and how the paternalist Qing state stifled the spontaneous development of industrial capitalism despite commercial prosperity.Less
Chapter 1 discusses how the massive influx of American silver into seventeenth- and eighteenth-century China fueled a commercial revolution that made China the most advanced market economy in the early modern world, and how the paternalist Qing state stifled the spontaneous development of industrial capitalism despite commercial prosperity.
Christopher Rea
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520283848
- eISBN:
- 9780520959590
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520283848.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Literati compiled collections of jokes (xiaohua) throughout the imperial period. In the late Qing, however, jokes aided the livelihood of writers for Shanghai’s booming periodical press. Xiaohua ...
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Literati compiled collections of jokes (xiaohua) throughout the imperial period. In the late Qing, however, jokes aided the livelihood of writers for Shanghai’s booming periodical press. Xiaohua differ from “jokes” in that they can relate true anecdotes as well as fictional scenarios. The ambiguous truth-claim of the xiaohua appealed especially to exposé writers like Wu Jianren and Li Boyuan, who mixed news items, gossip, and apocryphal stories into xiaohua-driven novels about the misbehavior of Qing officials. Formulaic jokes proliferated and became more commoditized during the Republican period, as newspapers and magazines became ever-more hungry for copy that would attract readers. Foreign jokes were widely translated. Chinese jokes from imperial collections were rediscovered and adapted by writers, cartoonists, and performers alike. Chinese jokes circulated abroad in greater volume than ever before. As late as the 1930s, however, critics like Lu Xun still warned of danger in a culture of joking that was more interested in the funny than the true.Less
Literati compiled collections of jokes (xiaohua) throughout the imperial period. In the late Qing, however, jokes aided the livelihood of writers for Shanghai’s booming periodical press. Xiaohua differ from “jokes” in that they can relate true anecdotes as well as fictional scenarios. The ambiguous truth-claim of the xiaohua appealed especially to exposé writers like Wu Jianren and Li Boyuan, who mixed news items, gossip, and apocryphal stories into xiaohua-driven novels about the misbehavior of Qing officials. Formulaic jokes proliferated and became more commoditized during the Republican period, as newspapers and magazines became ever-more hungry for copy that would attract readers. Foreign jokes were widely translated. Chinese jokes from imperial collections were rediscovered and adapted by writers, cartoonists, and performers alike. Chinese jokes circulated abroad in greater volume than ever before. As late as the 1930s, however, critics like Lu Xun still warned of danger in a culture of joking that was more interested in the funny than the true.
Paul U. Unschuld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257658
- eISBN:
- 9780520944701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257658.003.0062
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This chapter sheds light on the scientific revolution in medicine in the centuries following the decline of the Song dynasty to the end of the empire in 1912. There were a couple of initiatives, but ...
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This chapter sheds light on the scientific revolution in medicine in the centuries following the decline of the Song dynasty to the end of the empire in 1912. There were a couple of initiatives, but no one was able to provide a blueprint to give medicine new momentum. There had been a new momentum in the Han era when the innovation was expressed and accepted and there was new momentum again in the Song era also. There have always been movements. The movements in the Mongolian, Ming, and Qing eras were certainly noticeable and perhaps even traumatic for the contemporaries but they were not fundamental. They could not fundamentally question the structures of the imperial period. The Neo-Confucianism of the Song era was elevated by the Qing dynasty to official state doctrine. There is no special new path in culture, as in medicine. The end of the imperial era led to the emergence of the new path.Less
This chapter sheds light on the scientific revolution in medicine in the centuries following the decline of the Song dynasty to the end of the empire in 1912. There were a couple of initiatives, but no one was able to provide a blueprint to give medicine new momentum. There had been a new momentum in the Han era when the innovation was expressed and accepted and there was new momentum again in the Song era also. There have always been movements. The movements in the Mongolian, Ming, and Qing eras were certainly noticeable and perhaps even traumatic for the contemporaries but they were not fundamental. They could not fundamentally question the structures of the imperial period. The Neo-Confucianism of the Song era was elevated by the Qing dynasty to official state doctrine. There is no special new path in culture, as in medicine. The end of the imperial era led to the emergence of the new path.
Janet M. Theiss
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520240339
- eISBN:
- 9780520930667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520240339.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book engages the most familiar and most thoroughly researched topic within Chinese gender and women's history: the cult of female chastity in the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). The institutionalized ...
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This book engages the most familiar and most thoroughly researched topic within Chinese gender and women's history: the cult of female chastity in the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). The institutionalized veneration of chaste widows and chastity martyrs first came to the attention of historians in the 1930s, who approached it from the perspective of the radical critiques and transformations of the old Confucian family system in their day. Different approaches to chastity, shaped largely by readings of social commentaries and hagiographic biographies of women written by literati men, and the writings of late imperial elite women themselves, offer a flexible model of the relationship between norm and practice that accounts for both the reproduction of orthodox values and structures and the diversity of accepted gender practices and interpretations of female virtue.Less
This book engages the most familiar and most thoroughly researched topic within Chinese gender and women's history: the cult of female chastity in the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). The institutionalized veneration of chaste widows and chastity martyrs first came to the attention of historians in the 1930s, who approached it from the perspective of the radical critiques and transformations of the old Confucian family system in their day. Different approaches to chastity, shaped largely by readings of social commentaries and hagiographic biographies of women written by literati men, and the writings of late imperial elite women themselves, offer a flexible model of the relationship between norm and practice that accounts for both the reproduction of orthodox values and structures and the diversity of accepted gender practices and interpretations of female virtue.
Eric Harwit
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199233748
- eISBN:
- 9780191715556
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199233748.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter begins by putting the Chinese case in the context of telecommunications development trajectories. It briefly considers policies in other countries where growth was in many cases slower, ...
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This chapter begins by putting the Chinese case in the context of telecommunications development trajectories. It briefly considers policies in other countries where growth was in many cases slower, and where government intervention (except in the cases of Japan and South Korea) was less effective. It then examines historical development in the Chinese sector from the Qing dynasty to the beginning of the reform era, ones that set the stage for effective industrial policy beginning in the early 1980s. The chapter then turns to the post-1976 reform period in China, and chronicles the ways the government developed policies to foster the industry. It discusses policies employed that were strikingly similar to those seen in Japan during the 1950s and 1960s: favourable grants and loans, effective tax policies, shielding of the sector from international competition, and other strategies that encouraged the industry to rapidly expand.Less
This chapter begins by putting the Chinese case in the context of telecommunications development trajectories. It briefly considers policies in other countries where growth was in many cases slower, and where government intervention (except in the cases of Japan and South Korea) was less effective. It then examines historical development in the Chinese sector from the Qing dynasty to the beginning of the reform era, ones that set the stage for effective industrial policy beginning in the early 1980s. The chapter then turns to the post-1976 reform period in China, and chronicles the ways the government developed policies to foster the industry. It discusses policies employed that were strikingly similar to those seen in Japan during the 1950s and 1960s: favourable grants and loans, effective tax policies, shielding of the sector from international competition, and other strategies that encouraged the industry to rapidly expand.
James Z. Lee and Cameron D. Campbell
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199280681
- eISBN:
- 9780191602467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280681.003.0017
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
To assess trends in the standard of living in Liaoning province in north-east China during the nineteenth century, the secular change in demographic rates and their sensitivity to economic conditions ...
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To assess trends in the standard of living in Liaoning province in north-east China during the nineteenth century, the secular change in demographic rates and their sensitivity to economic conditions are examined. The findings show that marital fertility rose, child mortality fell and some men were able to marry much earlier. Fertility became less sensitive to grain prices, suggesting a decline in the vulnerability of rural populations to economic shocks. Based on these trends, the conclusion can be drawn that the standard of living in Liaoning rose during the nineteenth century. While these results may not be generalized to China as a whole, they do raise the possibility of variation between and within regions of China in trends in living standards during the nineteenth century.Less
To assess trends in the standard of living in Liaoning province in north-east China during the nineteenth century, the secular change in demographic rates and their sensitivity to economic conditions are examined. The findings show that marital fertility rose, child mortality fell and some men were able to marry much earlier. Fertility became less sensitive to grain prices, suggesting a decline in the vulnerability of rural populations to economic shocks. Based on these trends, the conclusion can be drawn that the standard of living in Liaoning rose during the nineteenth century. While these results may not be generalized to China as a whole, they do raise the possibility of variation between and within regions of China in trends in living standards during the nineteenth century.
Donald S. Sutton
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520230156
- eISBN:
- 9780520927537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520230156.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
When the Miao of the west Hunan/Guizhou border rose in revolt in 1795, the long decline of the Qing dynasty had already begun. The outsiders intruding in the early eighteenth century fell into three ...
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When the Miao of the west Hunan/Guizhou border rose in revolt in 1795, the long decline of the Qing dynasty had already begun. The outsiders intruding in the early eighteenth century fell into three categories: the frontier officials, who responded to local problems with limited resources; the several thousand soldiers brought in to man the new camps and cities; and tens of thousands of unregistered Han settlers, arriving intermittently as lone males from the more heavily populated areas to the west. To explore these tensions and changes, this chapter focuses on the contending views of officials who introduced and managed the flawed system. It centers on the clash between policies of quarantine and acculturation in the Miao frontier under the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors, with emphasis on the impact of such policies on local society.Less
When the Miao of the west Hunan/Guizhou border rose in revolt in 1795, the long decline of the Qing dynasty had already begun. The outsiders intruding in the early eighteenth century fell into three categories: the frontier officials, who responded to local problems with limited resources; the several thousand soldiers brought in to man the new camps and cities; and tens of thousands of unregistered Han settlers, arriving intermittently as lone males from the more heavily populated areas to the west. To explore these tensions and changes, this chapter focuses on the contending views of officials who introduced and managed the flawed system. It centers on the clash between policies of quarantine and acculturation in the Miao frontier under the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors, with emphasis on the impact of such policies on local society.
