Celestial Women : Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Song to Qing.

Intro -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Preface -- Prologue -- From the Song to the Qing, the Last One Thousand Years -- The Polyandrous Empress -- Royal Courts, Polygamy, and the Women's Quarters -- Women Rulers in Other Parts of Eurasia, Eleventh to Thirteenth Centuries -- Notes -- Part I: The Song, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties, 960-1368 -- 1 The Song Dynasty, 960-1279 -- No Calamitous Women -- Trends in Masculinity and Femininity in the Song -- The Six Bureaus of the Women's Service Organization and the Titles of Consorts -- The Northern Song, 960-1127 -- The Legend of Lady Huarui, Who Tried to Poison Taizu -- A Different Way of Recording Wives -- The Rise of Empress Dowager Liu, Former Entertainer -- The Curtained Divide -- A Hidden Mother -- An Empress Deposed for Fighting with a Consort -- An Heir Apparent Who Tried to Run Away and an Empress-Regent Who Refused to Step Down -- Great Empress Dowager Gao, "a Yao and Shun among Women" -- In Twenty Years of Marriage, the Emperor and Empress Never Had a Fight -- A Deposed Empress Becomes a Heroine during the Fall of the Northern Song -- Emperor Huizong, Prolific Polygamist and Patron of the Arts -- Empress Zheng Accompanies the Emperor into Captivity, Gaozong's Mother Returns -- A Celestial Consort and a Courtesan Lover -- The Southern Song, 1127-1279 -- Connoisseurs and Collectors of Art, Empress Wu and Honored Consort Liu -- Wearing Clothing for Years at a Time -- The Atrocities of Empress Li -- An Actress Becomes Empress -- Empress Xie Dissuades the Emperor from Moving the Capital -- Thirty Women in One Night -- Conclusion: The Role of the Empress in the Song -- Notes -- 2 The Jin and Yuan Dynasties, 1115-1368 -- The Jin Dynasty, 1115-1234 -- Hailing, Stealer of Wives -- His Stepmother Criticizes His Plan to Conquer the Song -- "He Became Poisoned with Lust and Delusion".

Asking a Woman to Kill Her Husband -- How Could Anyone Give Greater Pleasure? -- Having Sex to Music -- His Male Favorites, a Eunuch and a Storyteller -- A Ming Dynasty Story about Hailing and His Wanton Women -- She Killed Herself Rather Than Submit -- The Heir Apparent Marries a Smart Female Student -- An Heir Apparent Whipped by His Mother -- A Homily on Womanly Virtue -- The Yuan Dynasty, 1271-1368 -- The Exaltation of Widow Chastity -- Female Self-Sacrifice -- Mothers Promoting Their Sons -- Sorghaghtani, Khubilai's Mother -- Chabi and the Wives of Khubilai Khan -- Powerful Women in Later Reigns -- The Korean Empress Promotes Her Son against His Father -- The Yuan Transition -- Notes -- Part II: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644 -- 3 From Founder to 1505 -- No Woman Regents -- Zhu Yuanzhang, from the Bottom of Society -- Zhu's Ancestral Injunctions -- The Ranking and Organization of Ming Palace Women -- Eunuchs in the Ming -- Empress Ma, Who Wore Much Laundered Clothing -- Modifying Ritual Tradition to Mourn a Favorite -- Empress Xu's Household Instructions and Executions in the Inner Palace -- Empress Zhang, Unofficial Regent -- Deposing His Sonless Empress -- The Investiture of Empress Sun -- A Makeshift Regency -- An Empress Deposed and Reenthroned -- An Interim Empress -- A Nursemaid Becomes a Favorite -- Concubine Birth Mother versus Sonless Empress -- Honored Consort Wan -- A Chance Mother and a Secret Son -- Discovering His Dead Father's Sex Manual -- Notes -- 4 Three Rulers from 1506 to 1572 -- An Emperor Who Liked to Roam -- No More Keeping Track of Visitations -- Men Who "Slept and Rose with the Emperor" -- Stolen Women and Muslim Dancers -- An Emperor Whose Palace Women Tried to Kill Him -- The Emperor's Mother Demands Respect -- Deposed Empress Chen's Jealousy and Miscarriage -- The Emperor Reflects on His Libido.

Strangled by His Consorts -- Recruiting Virgins for Immortality -- "Do Not Pursue Desires without End" -- The Debate about How to Mourn His Mother -- The Empress Criticizes His Indulgence in Music and Women -- Notes -- 5 The Last Ming Emperors, 1573-1644 -- A Stern Mother and a Meddling Consort -- "You Were Also Born of a Palace Maid!" -- The Empress, the Favorite, and the Mother of the Heir Apparent -- "Consort Zheng Takes Good Care of Me" -- The Princess's Husband Suffers a Beating -- The Man with a Club -- The Emperor and His Eunuchs -- A Eunuch and a Wet Nurse -- "The Calamity of Wu Zetian Is Again before Us" -- The Eunuch Dictator -- Wet Nurse and Lifelong Companion -- The Selection of Empress Zhang -- Plotting against the Empress -- Fictional Stories about Wei Zhongxian -- Ordering His Empress to Commit Suicide -- The Frugal Last Empress and a Consort Whom She Snubbed -- The Last Days of the Ming Palace -- Conclusion: Giving Reign to Imperial Will -- Notes -- Part III: The Qing Dynasty, 1644-1911 -- 6 The Founding of the Qing, 1636-1722 -- The Manchu Social System and the Imperial Family -- The Banner System, Succession, and Marriage Practices -- Ranking and Recruitment of Wives -- Bondservants, the Imperial Household Department, and Eunuchs -- Two Grief-Stricken Emperors -- Hong Taiji Marries the Wives of His Enemy -- Bumbutai, Consort Mother and Dowager -- The Emperor Grieves for a Consort -- Fifty-Four Wives, Fifty-Six Children, and No Chaos in the Lateral Courts -- Advice to His Sons: "Do Not Stand under a Tree When There Is Lightning" -- Overlapping Favorites and a Preference for Han Women -- Giving the Ladies a Fright -- Death and Burial -- Notes -- 7 From Yongzheng to Xianfeng, 1722-1861 -- Diligent Emperor or Evil Usurper -- The Prince Drinks Deer Blood and Begets His Successor -- Killed by a Swordswoman, or by "Cinnabar Drugs".

No Female Favorites, but a Male One -- A Wife Who Made Him a Flint Pouch -- The Empress Who Shaved Her Head -- The Turkic Muslim Consort -- His Male Favorite -- The Last Emperors before the Dowager, 1796-1861 -- The Jiaqing Emperor's Wives in Fiction and Television -- The Daoguang Emperor Demotes His Consorts -- The Husband of the Last Woman Ruler -- Notes -- 8 Empress Dowager Cixi, 1835-1908 -- China's Last Woman Ruler -- Writing about the Empress Dowager -- The Dowager and Her Co-rulers -- The Emperor's Incognito Outings -- The Death of Empress Jiashun -- The Dowager and Her Eunuchs -- The Guangxu Emperor, His Empress, and His Favorite Concubine -- The Mystery of the Pearl Concubine's Death -- Reminiscences of Those Who Served Her -- No Shadows on Her Face: The Dowager in Paintings, Photos, and Biographies -- The Dowager as Goddess -- "The Very Embodiment of the Eternal Feminine" -- "May Health Be with You, Imperial Father" -- Fiction and Legends about Dowager Cixi -- Delivered to the Emperor Naked -- Her Intimacy with Eunuchs -- Li Lianying, the "Arch Villain" -- The Dowager in a 1916 Novel -- Conclusion: The Lack of Good Sons -- The Neutralization of the Position of Empress -- The Lack of Good Sons -- Notes -- 9 Conclusion to Part III -- Variables and Factors -- Bedding Arrangements for the Emperor -- Pretending There Would Be No Woman Ruler -- Notes -- Appendix -- Song Dynasty -- Jin Dynasty -- Yuan Dynasty -- Ming Dynasty -- Qing Dynasty -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author.

This volume completes McMahon's acclaimed history of imperial wives and royal polygamy in China. Avoiding the stereotype of empresses and imperial concubines as mere victims or playthings, Keith McMahon considers them as full-fledged participants in palace life; whether as mothers, wives, or go-betweens in the emperor's relations with others.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.