The Enlightened Judgments: Ch'Ing-Ming Chi, the Sung Dynasty Collection - Couverture souple

 
9780791442449: The Enlightened Judgments: Ch'Ing-Ming Chi, the Sung Dynasty Collection

Synopsis

The first English translation of a selection of legal documents from Sung Dynasty China, this work provides a fascinating look at the legal, social, and economic history of that era.

The Enlightened Judgments introduces everyday life in thirteenth-century China. The Sung Dynasty author of the collection brought together a host of documents selected from local judicial decisions and official papers to provide insights into contemporary life and its problems. It introduces a wonderful cast of Chinese characters-soldiers, merchants, gamblers, fishmongers, farmers, prostitutes, officials, local clerks, boatmen, military officers, Buddhist monks, lowly members of the imperial clan, local strongmen, and landlords. Relatives support one another or argue bitterly over property, abuse one another physically and verbally, or stand together resolutely in the face of outside trouble. Marriages, divorces, adoptions, inheritances, and commercial dealings of various sorts provide the core topics of the judicial decisions. Petty crimes-assaults between fishmongers, extortions by fishermen, even dressing in drag-are mixed with brutal stories that touch on torture, homicide, and enslavement. No other work so vividly portrays the difficulties of daily life in China a millennium ago.

This work offers translations of the original texts, introductions that set these pieces in context, and headnotes to each entry which provide a brief guide to clarify the content of the selection.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

À propos de l?auteur

Brian E. McKnight is Professor of East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona. He is the author of Law and Order in Sung China. James T. C. Liu was Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies at Princeton University. He was the author of China Turning Inward; Qu-yang Hsiu: An Eleventh Century Neo-Confucianist; and Reform in Sung China.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9780791442432: The Enlightened Judgments: Ch'Ing-Ming Chi : The Sung Dynasty Collection

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  0791442438 ISBN 13 :  9780791442432
Editeur : State University of New York Press, 1999
Couverture rigide