Adshead, Samuel Adrian M. T ang China: The Rise of the East in World History. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. This source contains a lot of information about the Tang Dynasty and other cultures, such as the Western countries. The book is organized in somewhat chronological order, starting with the beginning of the dynasty and ending with the fall. The middle sections each have a different focus, economy, politics, society, and intellect. In addition, the author described each of those aspects before comparing them to the Western world. Although the source is written in a regular book format, the author uses complex sentence structures and high level vocabulary words. One must read through a section a couple times to understand what is written. In addition, the material is partially opinion based, although some sources were cited. The source may be more useful for English-speaking (particularly ones living in the Western world) adults wanting to learn about the workings of ancient China. The author wrote from the point of view of such a person. This source is not useful for the purposes of this project. Attané, Isabelle. Being a Woman in China Today: A demography of gender. China Perspectives, 2012. This source was the most scientific source used. An abundance of evidence was presented in the form of charts, graphs, and data overall. These numbers were taken from multiple surveys conducted, including the Chinese census. Other evidence was taken from current laws that are imposed in China. The language is sometimes dense and a lot of information is presented. One thing that stands out are the trends in employment. China has a high percentage of women in the workforce by global standards. However, in the recent years urban women have begun to return home. In addition, women s pay as compared to men is decreasing. The article also references
Chinese laws involving women. For example, the 1982 constitution added the words, Women have the same rights as men in all spheres of political, economic, cultural, and social life, including family life (qtd. in article). Particularly, it was interesting to see the contrasting facts. Even though many women were employed, surveys found that many people in China (including men and women) both still held traditional opinions of women, such as, Men are turned toward society, women devote themselves to their family (chart in article). Another shocking fact is that parents on average spend less on health care for girls. This perpetuates the gender population gap. Edward Lewis, Mark. China s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Harvard University Press, 2012. Like the review stated, this book mostly gives general information about the Tang Dynasty. A handy list of maps and figures at the beginning also helps the reader visualize exactly what the Dynasty looked like. The book has sections describing the history of the Tang Dynasty, such as the rise to power, and rebellions. It also includes parts about the culture of the people at the time, about the religion, and literature. There are multiple sections about women s roles, as well as familial relationships. The author gives examples of opportunities for women, but contrasts that with limitations. He cites a book of conduct for Tang women written by Ban Zhao. In addition, he talks about the lives of elite women and regular women. Although elite women enjoyed much freedom, brothels and concubines increased dramatically in popularity. Thus, the period may have been for autonomous for women, but it also led to more objectification of women. It also created the idea that concubines symbolized wealth and power. Mostly, this source is useful to narrow down the focus of research, and sets some perspective about this time period.
Gao, Xiongya. Women Existing for Men: Confucianism and Social Injustice against Women in China. Race, Gender & Class, vol. 10, no. 3, 2003, pp. 114 125. The source began by introducing traditional ideas involving women and their role in society. The author quotes writings of Confucius and his followers, as well as more contemporary researchers in the field of Chinese women. Not only are expectations of women heavily addressed, the author also reviews a typical timeline of a woman s life. Some specific details are horrifying and difficult to stomach. For example, foot binding. A girl would have her foot bound from a young age which was extremely painful, and her foot would remain bound for the rest of her life. The binding prevented regular growth, resulting in a tiny misshapen foot. Not only were these types of feet encouraged, men would sometimes judge a woman s beauty solely by the size of her foot. The source ends by mentioning how far China has come. Confucian ideals are still referenced, but women have more equality. The structure of the article is mostly presentation of a quote and then an analysis of said quote. Ho, Norman P. Understanding Traditional Chinese Law in Practice: The Implementation of Criminal Law in the Tang Dynasty. Pacific Basin Law Journal, Vol. 32, 2015. This article is about the Tang Code and its enforcing. The author argues that the Tang Code was not followed consistently and officials had too much power to influence decisions unfairly. The article is divided into two sections, one a general summary of the Tang Code itself, and the other an investigation of the application of the laws. The article uses some primary sources, for example court case records, and secondary sources. Although the article is packed with information, the source is clearly intended for a well-educated audience. In addition to lengthy and complex sentences, the article has an abundance of long footnotes. These footnotes have
useful knowledge as well, such as citations of other sources or additional clarification. However, the length of the footnotes hinder comprehension of the article itself. Over all, the source is most useful to someone with specific interests in Tang Dynasty law and prior knowledge of the dynasty. Holcombe, Charles. Review of China s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Journal of World History, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 830-833, December 2011. This review provides a short overview of the book China s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Although it does not point out particular useful sections for me to read, it does give a summary of the structure and content of the book. The reviewer, Charles Holcombe, finds the book to be more useful for an English-speaking non-expert audience. While this project focuses on the Tang Dynasty, I do not consider myself an expert on the topic yet. Such a source would be an ideal source to start with, to familiarize myself with the dynasty before diving into more specific sources. The review helped me decide whether to use the book and narrow down the section of the book to read. Additionally, this review pointed me in the direction of two other possible sources to use for my research. Holcombe also gives a summary about the focus of those two books. Jay, Jennifer W. Imagining Matriarchy: Kingdoms of Women in Tang China. Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 116, No. 2, pp. 220-229, 1996. This source began with an introduction of some possible matriarchal kingdoms. The author then defined a true matriarchal system, which required more than just a woman being the ruler. The source also mentioned some rumored true matriarchal kingdoms. However, only kingdoms
supported by anthropological evidence were discussed later. The source also incorporated myths or legends of other odd kingdoms. These stories were made up by male authors, and mostly involved some asexual way of reproduction. Afterwards, the article discussed Tibet, Japan, and Korea. Each of these three places had some aspects of a matriarchal system. Only Tibet was close to being a true matriarchy. Then, the author analyzed Tang China, more specifically the rule of Wu Zetian. After considering the system on China, the author concluded that Tang China was not matriarchal kingdom. Although Wu Zetian had been a female emperor, men remained dominant and descent still followed the paternal side. This source had a specific focus, but not on just the Tang Dynasty. An older audience with some prior knowledge would be optimal for the article. Although the source was not just about the Tang Dynasty, it was still informative and interesting. Johnson, Linda Cooke. Womanly Ideals in the Liao and Jin Periods. Women of the Conquest Dynasties: Gender and Identity in Liao and Jin China, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2011, pp. 1 25. The author begins by introducing a particular aspect of Chinese Literature called lienu. This is a specific section of a book dedicated to women. Lienu tells stories of exemplary women to demonstrate virtues and also gives examples of bad behavior that is punished. The author then begins analyzing specific lienu sections from different time periods. Some particular sections stand out, such as the one about Changge who followed her brother into exile. All examples exhibit some Confucian ideals, including education. Thus, Chinese women were expected to be educated, although their education was not similar at all to boys education. The author also includes epitaphs of certain women. These epitaphs idealize the women, and they show the way
society wanted to remember women, or what aspects of a woman the society found appropriate to commemorate. The author also extensively discusses a particular tomb found in Yemaotai, which belonged to an unknown lady. This lady exhibits classing Confucian ideals, and also Khitan ideals. The article concludes that standards of female virtue varied based on position (class) and ethnicity (Han, Liao, etc.) Nugent, Christopher M. B. Literary Collections in Tang Dynasty China. T'oung Pao, Vol. 93, pp. 1-52, 2007. This source focuses on the literary aspect of the Tang Dynasty. Instead of analyzing poems from the time period, the article explains how poems were collected, copied, and preserved. The author states that the methods of creating literary collections are studied much less than other aspects (such as sculptures) of Chinese history. However, he argues, understand how poems were preserved gives more perspective of the way poems were thought of in ancient time. They weren t as easy to access, and thus were more precious. The author takes quotations from compilers, and even poets from the Tang Dynasty and explains the entire process of making a literary collection. A major part of the article explains the relevance of literary collections in society during the Tang Dynasty and all dynasties after it. This source is very in depth and mentions many names and events. It also includes many Chinese characters and thus is more suited to an audience with prior knowledge of the Tang Dynasty. This source compiles a list of all the Chinese Emperors in all time. Not only does it contain some information about each emperor, it also has many images of artworks, writings, monuments, and statues. The book not only provides much information about the emperors of all the dynasties, but also cultural information. This source is especially useful to get an idea of the
government and some traditions important during that time period, for example, tomb figurines. Since porcelain was first perfected in the Tang Dynasty, the wealthy had the privilege of having many life-like figures in their tombs. A new method of coloring had also been discovered (sancai) which allowed for more vivid coloring. The color blue was one of the most valuable, thus only affordable to the wealthiest. The author s description of the female figurines in particular is interesting. She describes female musicians, courtiers, and dancers. She also writes about makeup on the foreheads of the women, which are lead and arsenic designed to make the skin more yellow. One figurine, the fat lady doesn t display the traditional body shape preferred at the time. Not much else of the book mentions women as the book is focused on emperors.