Forgery and impersonation in imperial China : popular deceptions and the high Qing state / Mark McNicholas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McNicholas, Mark, author.

Series:

China Program Books

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

False personation--China--History.

False personation.

Forgery--China--History.

Forgery.

Public administration--China--History.

Public administration.

Fraud--China--History.

Fraud.

China--History--Qing dynasty, 1644-1912.

China.

China--Officials and employees.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 p.)

Place of Publication:

Seattle, [Washington] ; London, [England] : a China Program Book, University of Washington Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Across eighteenth-century China a wide range of common people forged government documents or pretended to be officials or other agents of the state. This examination of case records and law codes traces the legal meanings and social and political contexts of small-time swindles that were punished as grave political transgressions.

Contents:

Introduction: crimes, commoners, and the state

Meng Guangzu: the Prince's tour and the struggle for the throne

Secret agents: high tide and disappearance, 1723-1800

"En route to my post" and other tall tales: phony officials on the move

Phony cops: the persistence of police impersonation

Forgery: gaining trust in a land of documents and seals

Bad proxies and bogus credentials: forgery and the purchase of official rank

From politics to money: legal reckoning in the high Qing

Conclusion.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780295806235

0295806230

OCLC:

937723365