Women in Early Imperial China

Recognized as the leading work in the field this introductory survey offers the first sustained history of women in the early imperial era. Now in a revised edition that incorporates the latest scholarship and theoretical approaches the book draws on extensive primary and secondary sources in Chinese and Japanese to paint a remarkably detailed picture of the distant past. Bret Hinsch's introductory chapters orient the nonspecialist to early imperial Chinese society; subsequent chapters explore women's roles from the multiple perspectives of kinship wealth and work law government learning ritual and cosmology. An enhanced array of line drawings a Chinese-character glossary and extensive notes and bibliography enhance the author's discussion. Historians and students of gender and early China alike will find this book an invaluable overview.