Although the academy has embraced the history of Chinese women, research focuses on the most recent eras. Historians interested in women’s issues usually study the Ming and Qing dynasties and especially the twentieth century. The recent past holds obvious appeal for scholars, as the sources are copious, accessible, and more readily comprehensible. Moreover, its impact on today’s China...

Since the mid-nineteenth century, when China opened up to the outside world, intellectuals have had to manage successive waves of ideas coming from the West. Some of these imported notions, Marxism in particular, have had an immense impact on the way Chinese think about their nation’s past. Because nineteenth-century Marxists embraced the theory of ancient matriarchy, this idea also gained...

Most fundamentally, foragers strive to maximize their food resources and ensure that children receive adequate nutrition to guarantee the survival of the band.1 Women and men tend to form stable monogamous ties for life, as polygyny, divorce, and remarriage would create conflicts of interest between family members. Multiple generations live together so...

The origins of the Shang state remain shrouded in mystery.1 Perhaps leaders expanded their realm by enticing others to participate in a superior political framework. More likely, however, they probably used the strategy employed by other archaic states and extended their borders primarily through conquest. Kinship bonds held the Shang polity together. Nobles served as clan elders,...

After the Zhou conquered Shang and united the two realms, they found themselves ruling an unprecedently large and diverse state. The new elite realized that they could not use their traditional methods to rule such a huge area, nor could they adapt the equally inadequate Shang system. The Zhou had no choice but to construct innovative institutions capable of holding together their large and...

Although Eastern and Western Zhou share the same dynastic name, the two periods differ in fundamental ways. During the Eastern Zhou, the decay of the previous system unleashed unprecedented productivity and mobility, spurring society to become far more prosperous, complex, and diverse. Cities grew in population and importance, commerce and industry flourished, and a wide range of social groups and...

Some prominent Eastern Zhou writers denigrated female participation in government and demanded that rulers strictly exclude women from affairs of state. Because history provided the precedents used to legitimize political activities and policies, they also tried to remove accounts of powerful women from the orthodox narrative of bygone events. To do so, they had to explain away the positive...

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Identity and Resistance in Okinawa