Help with Imperial China?

Moonshayde · Dec 16, 2008

I'm working on a historical novel set in Imperial China (Southern Song dynasty) and I'm a little hard pressed to find accurate information. I may be looking in the wrong places.

Basically, I am looking for some information on the culture, history, and customs of people who lived in the Chinese Imperial Court in the 13th century, especially in the time right before Khan conquered the Song Dynasty. I am trying to research the years of 1268-1274 or at least as wide as 1250-1275.

Most specifically, I am looking to see how Imperial concubines lived and what life was like in the Palace. My story focuses on a woman living as a concubine in the court, so I really need to know what Palace life was like under Emperors Duzong and his adoptive father Lizong.

If any of you know any resources, books, articles, or anywhere I can turn it would be muchly appreciated. I'll see if I can look through the threads and offer any help as well.

Feiss · Dec 16, 2008

I would suggest a book written about Empress We ZeTian, seeing as she was a concubine for two different emperors before becoming empress, it would be a good starting point. A fictional account like "Lady Wu" by Lin Yutang would give a lot of insight into daily life. However, she lived during the Tang dynasty, so that might not be what you want.

Teleute · Dec 16, 2008

There wasn't much in the scholarly databases, but I did find an abstract for one article that should be helpful. It should also be quite reputable; the professor is from the University of Illinois Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies:

Ebrey, Patricia. "Concubines in Sung China." Journal of Family History 11.1 (1986): 1-24.

Abstract:

This article argues that concubines (ch'ieh) in traditional China should not be thought of as wives, even secondary wives. Using Sung dynasty (960-1279) evidence, the ritual, legal, and social differences between wives and concubines are examined. Wives were acquired through a betrothal process that entailed exchange of gifts and ceremonies; concubines were purchased through a market in female labor much as maids were. A wife's relatives became kin of her husband and his family; a concubine's did not. A man could take as many concubines as he could afford; he could marry only one wife. The sons of a concubine had the same rights of inheritance as the sons of a wife, but they had to treat their father's wife as their legal mother, honoring their "birth mother" to a lesser degree. A concubine had to treat the wife as her mistress, and she might well be used by the wife as a personal maid. The wife could rear the concubine's children herself if she chose to and would be their legal guardian if the father died. In criminal law, concubines fell between wives and maids in matters such as injuries to family members. The conclusion of this essay considers the ways in which the status of concubines changed in later centuries.

I suggest that you use interlibrary loan to get ahold of this article; if your library doesn't have ILL (or stock the journal), you can get access to it for 1 day for $20 here: http://jfh.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/11/1/1

The article probably contains valuable information, but the bibliography will probably be far more valuable, so make sure you print it all out of course.

Corpus Thomisticum · Dec 23, 2008

Moonshayde,

If you have a library nearby, try picking up a copy of John King Fairbank's and Merle Goldman's book China, A New History (ISBN: 0-674-11673-9). The book itself is interesting enough but but the intro is excellent, particularly for describing the anthropological flow of Chinese society through its history, giving Westerners like us a glimpse into the Chinese view of the world. It explores the origins of Chinese communalism, the relationship of various historical dynastic courts to society at large, etc.

Help with Imperial China?

Moonshayde

Feiss

Sleeps during the day

Teleute

Skeptic

Corpus Thomisticum

Life Stares Back at Me