The Empress and the Dragon Throne

Imperial Women of the Early Ming Dynasty

Ellen Soulliere

• Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
• Year: 2025
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9789888900107
• Subtopic: Chinese History
• Index: History

The rulers of the Ming dynasty enacted paradigms of hierarchical order. Like imperial families, households, and courts in earlier Chinese dynasties, they articulated patriarchal, patrilineal, and patrilocal organizational principles as exemplars for families and institutions throughout the empire. Women made indispensable contributions to the development of these paradigms and principles and to the social, cultural, and political fabric of the family and the state. And yet, in the existing literature in Chinese and English women are often burdened with stereotypes, positioned as peripheral, or rendered almost invisible. Reading available texts "against the grain," and drawing on a trove of evidence from material culture, Soulliere shows how women defined a place for themselves in the multigenerational Ming imperial family, imperial household, and court. The Empress and the Dragon Throne spans the first Ming century from just before the founding of the dynasty in 1368 to the end of the Tianshun reign in 1465. This richly illustrated volume is a must-read for scholars, students, and anyone interested in learning about women's lives during the Ming dynasty.

Table of contents

• Synposis
• Author Biography
• Endorsements
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Tables
• A Note on Language Matters
• Preface
• 1. Women, Men, and Institutions in the World Before the Founding of the Dynasty
• 2. Hongwu 洪武
• 3. Jianwen 建文
• 4. Yongle 永樂
• 5. Reading in the Palace 內訓
• 6. Reading and Writing in the Palace
• 7. Hongxi 洪熙
• 8. Xuande 宣德
• 9. Zhengtong 正統
• 10. Jingtai 景泰
• 11. Tianshun 天順
• 12. Reflections
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index