{"product_id":"the-empress-and-the-dragon-throne-imperial-women-of-the-early-ming-dynasty-9789888900787","title":"The Empress and the Dragon Throne: Imperial Women of the Early Ming Dynasty","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow empresses and consorts were indispensable to the Ming dynasty and its politics and governance.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003ci\u003eThe Empress and the Dragon Throne\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEllen Soulliere\u003c\/b\u003e is an honorary research associate at Massey University in New Zealand and has published widely on the Ming court.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Hong Kong University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51807235637522,"sku":"9789888900787","price":64.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e4a30322-593c-40d4-ab18-fd6513730cbf.jpg?v=1766047055","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-empress-and-the-dragon-throne-imperial-women-of-the-early-ming-dynasty-9789888900787","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}