A01=Ellen Soulliere
ancient china
Author_Ellen Soulliere
Category=JBSF1
Category=NHF
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
imperial court
Ming dynasty
Ming women
Product details
- ISBN 9789888900787
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 04 Nov 2025
- Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
- Publication City/Country: HK
- Product Form: Hardback
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The rulers of the Ming dynasty enacted paradigms of hierarchical order. Like imperial families, households, and courts in earlier Chinese dynasties, they articulated patriarchal, patrilineal, and patrilocal organizational principles as exemplars for families and institutions throughout the empire. Women made indispensable contributions to the development of these paradigms and principles and to the social, cultural, and political fabric of the family and the state. And yet, in the existing literature in Chinese and English women are often burdened with stereotypes, positioned as peripheral, or rendered almost invisible.
Reading available texts "against the grain," and drawing on a trove of evidence from material culture, Soulliere shows how women defined a place for themselves in the multigenerational Ming imperial family, imperial household, and court. The Empress and the Dragon Throne spans the first Ming century from just before the founding of the dynasty in 1368 to the end of the Tianshun reign in 1465. This richly illustrated volume is a must-read for scholars, students, and anyone interested in learning about women's lives during the Ming dynasty.
Reading available texts "against the grain," and drawing on a trove of evidence from material culture, Soulliere shows how women defined a place for themselves in the multigenerational Ming imperial family, imperial household, and court. The Empress and the Dragon Throne spans the first Ming century from just before the founding of the dynasty in 1368 to the end of the Tianshun reign in 1465. This richly illustrated volume is a must-read for scholars, students, and anyone interested in learning about women's lives during the Ming dynasty.
Ellen Soulliere is an honorary research associate at Massey University in New Zealand and has published widely on the Ming court.
