Women, property, and Confucian reaction in Sung and Yüan China (960-1368) / Bettine Birge.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Birge, Bettine, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in Chinese history, literature, and institutions.

Cambridge studies in Chinese history, literature, and institutions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Social conditions.

Women.

China--Social conditions--960-1644.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 345 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Women, Property, & Confucian Reaction in Sung & Yüan China (960-1368)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book, originally published in 2002, argues that the Mongol invasion of the thirteenth century precipitated a transformation of marriage and property law in China that deprived women of their property rights and reduced their legal and economic autonomy. It describes how after a period during which women's property rights were steadily improving, and laws and practices affecting marriage and property were moving away from Confucian ideals, the Mongol occupation created a new constellation of property and gender relations that persisted to the end of the imperial era. It shows how the Mongol-Yüan rule in China ironically created the conditions for radical changes in the law, which for the first time brought it into line with the goals of Learning the Way Confucians and which curtailed women's financial and personal autonomy. The book evaluates the Mongol invasion and its influence on Chinese law and society.

Contents:

1. Women and Property before the Sung: Evolution and Continuity

Chou Feudalism and Confucian Ideals

Han Dynasty Developments: Communal Living, Common Property

Dowry versus Betrothal Gifts

T'ang Inheritance and Property Law

2. Women and Property in the Sung: Legal Innovation in Changing Times

Sung Law and the Legal System

Transmission of Wealth to Women

Daughters and Sons in Family Division

Daughters' Inheritance by Testament and Legal Protection of the Property of Minors

Inheritance by Daughters without Surviving Brothers

New Provisions for Daughters in Cut-off Households

Intervention of the State

Daughters and Posthumous Heirs

Women's Property within Marriage

Taking Property out of a Marriage after the Husband's Death

Remarriage and the Law

Separate Property within Marriage While the Husband Was Alive

Divorce

Disposition of Dowry When a Wife Died without Heirs

Conclusion: Property, Gender, and the Law

3. Women's Property and Confucian Reaction in the Sung

Patrilineality and Daughters' Inheritance

Opposition to Private Property within Marriage

Chu Hsi's Encouragement of Dowry Donation

Dowry Donation and the Learning of the Way Fellowship

Growing Concern over Dowry during the Sung

Learning of the Way Ideals and Women as Household Bursars

Northern Sung Discourse on Women as Household Managers

Chu Hsi and Women's Roles in the Household

Chu Hsi's Contemporaries and Followers

Huang Kan's Enforcement of Learning of the Way Ideals

4. Transformation of Marriage and Property Law in the Yuan

Marriage and the Levirate in Mongol and Chinese Society

Law in the Yuan Dynasty

Family Property and Daughters' Inheritance

Inheritance in Cut-off Households

Women's Separate Property in Marriage

Changing Laws on Marriage and Property in the Yuan

Stage 1. Separation of Mongol and Chinese Law, 1260 to the End of 1271

Stage 2. Mongolization of the Law and Universal Application of the Levirate, 1271-1276

Stage 3. Reassertion of Chinese Values and Lenient Enforcement of the Levirate, 1276-1294

Stage 4. Confucian Transformation of Marriage and Property Law, 1294-1320

Stage 5. Exaltation of Chastity in the Late Yuan

Post-Yuan Developments. Conclusion: Gender, Mongols, and Confucian Ideals.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-328) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-11359-8

1-280-15317-2

0-511-11659-4

0-511-03976-X

0-511-15667-7

0-511-30416-1

0-511-51195-7

0-511-05382-7

OCLC:

171135560