Fate and Fortune in Rural China is a major contribution to the study of both the social and population history of late traditional China, and that of historical demography in general. Lee and Campbell demonstrate the interaction between demographic and other social pressures, and illustrate graphically the nature of social mobility and social organization in rural China during the century from 1774SH1873. Their conclusion--that social norms, rooted in ideology, determined demographic performance--is supported by a mass of hitherto inaccessible primary data.
The Historical Dictionary of Modern China (1800-1949) offers a concise but comprehensive examination of the political, military, economic, social, and cultural development of modern China. Instead of focusing merely on the political elites of China, this reference covers a variety of significant persons, including women and ethnic minorities; new historical concepts; cultural and educational institutions; and economic activities. Drawing on newly-available records, including a large mass of governmental and family archives, the narratives presented reveal new facts, offer a new interpretation in accordance with China's modernization process during the late Qing period, and a revisionist perspective on the Republican history. The chronology records not only political and military events but also other experiences of the Chinese people. The bibliography gives prominence to current literature on China's drive towards modernization and appendixes provide the reader with detailed information on China's cultural and economic transformation.
Reluctant Pioneers describes the migration of Chinese to Manchuria, their settlement there, and the incorporation of Manchuria into an expanding China, from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. The expansion of Chinese state and society from the agrarian and urban core of China proper to the territories north and west of the Great Wall doubled the size of the empire, forming the "China" now so prominent on the map of Asia. The movement and settlement of people, clearing and cultivation of land, invasions of soldiers, circulation of merchants, and establishment of government offices extended the boundaries of China at the same time that the American expansion westward and the Russian expansion eastward created the other great landed empires that dominated the twentieth century and persist today. The chief purpose of this book is to describe the Chinese experience and what it tells us about the expansion of states and societies, drawing comparisons with Russia and America, and reflecting on the nature of what scholars since Frederick Jackson Turner have called "frontiers" and what Turner's critics now call "borderlands" or "middle ground." In addition, the book touches on several other issues central to our understanding of modern China, such as the development of the Chinese economy and the nature of Chinese migration.
In this feminist history of eight centuries of private life in China, Francesca Bray inserts women into the history of technology and adds technology to the history of women. Bray takes issue with the Orientalist image that traditional Chinese women were imprisoned in the inner quarters, deprived of freedom and dignity, and so physically and morally deformed by footbinding and the tyrannies of patriarchy that they were incapable of productive work. She proposes a concept of gynotechnics, a set of everyday technologies that define women's roles, as a creative new way to explore how societies translate moral and social principles into a web of material forms and bodily practices. Bray examines three different aspects of domestic life in China, tracing their developments from 1000 to 1800 A.D. She begins with the shell of domesticity, the house, focusing on how domestic space embodied hierarchies of gender. She follows the shift in the textile industry from domestic production to commercial production. Despite increasing emphasis on women's reproductive roles, she argues, this cannot be reduced to childbearing. Female hierarchies within the family reinforced the power of wives, whose responsibilities included ritual activities and financial management as well as the education of children.
This work is the result of more than a decade of research on the Chinese household and lineage in the southeastern province of Fujian during the Ming and Qing period (1368-1911). It offers new interpretations of the Chinese domestic cycle, the relationship between household and larger kinship groups, and the development of lineage society in south China. Using hundreds of previously unknown lineage genealogies, stone inscriptions, and land deeds, Zheng Zhenman provides a candid view of how individuals and families confronted the crucial issues of daily life: how to minimize taxes or military conscription; how to balance the ideological imperatives of ancestor worship with practical concerns; how to deal with the problems of dividing the household estate. His research leads to an exploration of issues such as the relation of state to society and the compatibility of Chinese culture and capitalism. This complete translation allows access to some of the most exciting new research being done in Chinese social history. Zheng's book draws on important materials largely unknown to Western scholars, comes to novel conclusions about society in late imperial China, and illustrates the importance of the non-Western perspective in studying the history of the world outside the West.
A Translucent Mirror explores the origins of nationalism and cultural identity in China, revealing how the Qing dynasty incorporated neighbouring but disparate political traditions into a new style of imperialism.
Annotation This is the first book-length study of the social, political and cultural significance of the cult of female chastity in eighteenth century Qing China.
Home to close to 60 per cent of the world’s population, Asia is the largest and by far the most populous continent. It is also extremely diverse, physically and culturally. Asian countries and regions have their own distinctive histories, cultural traditions, religious beliefs and political systems, and they have often pursued different routes to development. Asian populations also present a striking array of demographic characteristics and stages of demographic transition. This handbook is the first to provide a comprehensive study of population change across the whole of Asia. Comprising 28 chapters by more than 40 international experts this handbook examines demographic transitions on the continent, their considerable variations, their causes and consequences, and their relationships with a wide range of social, economic, political and cultural processes. Major topics covered include: population studies and sources of demographic data; historical demography; family planning and fertility decline; sex preferences; mortality changes; causes of death; HIV/AIDS; population distribution and migration; urbanization; marriage and family; human capital and labour force; population ageing; demographic dividends; political demography; population and environment; and Asia’s demographic future. This handbook provides an authoritative and comprehensive reference for researchers, policymakers, academics, students and anyone who is interested in population change in Asia and the world.
