Celestial Women: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from

Celestial Women: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Song to Qing

This volume completes Keith McMahonâ€™s acclaimed history of imperial wives and royal polygamy in China. Avoiding the stereotype of the emperorâ€™s plural wives as mere victims or playthings, the book considers empresses and concubines as full-fledged participants in palace life, whether as mothers, wives, or go-betweens in the emperorâ€™s relations with others in the palace. Although restrictions on womenâ€™s participation in politics increased dramatically after Empress Wu in the Tang, the author follows the strong and active women, of both high and low rank, who continued to appear. They counseled emperors, ghostwrote for them, oversaw succession when they died, and dominated them when they were weak. They influenced the emperorâ€™s relationships with other women and enhanced their aura and that of the royal house with their acts of artistic and religious patronage. Dynastic history ended in China when the prohibition that women should not rule was defied for the final time by Dowager Cixi, the last great monarch before Chinaâ€™s transformation into a republic.

Country	USA
Author	Keith McMahon
Binding	Hardcover
EAN	9781442255012
ISBN	1442255013
Label	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Manufacturer	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
NumberOfItems	1
NumberOfPages	312
PublicationDate	2016-04-21
Publisher	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Studio	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Celestial Women: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Song to Qing