This excellent, concise overview of the status of women in China during the Sui and Tang dynasties covers the 6th through the 10th centuries CE. Following an introduction outlining this period's political history, the book examines marriage, motherhood, women’s roles in government and the economy, religion and ethics, education, and emotions. The conclusion summarizes the chapters with a supplemental discussion of women's fashions and beauty ideals. Each chapter clearly draws on the latest scholarship for its particular topic, including sources in Chinese, Japanese, and Western languages. Hinsch (Fo Guang Univ., Taiwan), an expert on sex and gender in early China, has written a highly accessible account, making this book useful for teaching. Especially engaging sections discuss the powerful Wu Zetian, the sole female emperor in Chinese history, and the tragic Yang Guifei, a palace lady unfairly blamed by generations of historians for a major rebellion. Many in China today are fascinated by tales of Tang princesses and courtesans as portrayed in film and novels. This book offers a valuable scholarly perspective on the realities of life for the entire social spectrum of Tang women. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty.

Choice Reviews

In this fascinating retelling of the history of women in Tang China, Bret Hinsch uses a wide historic lens to track the major roles that Chinese medieval women embodied. He offers a multi-layered account of wives, mothers, widows, jealous shrews, abandoned ladies, aestheticized courtesans, powerful women figures at court, and numerous other female images. This book is an ideal text for college classes and the general public.

Kang-I Sun Chang, Yale University

This well-written and engaging account adds to Bret Hinsch’s informative series on women and gender in China. Using a wealth of primary and secondary sources in Chinese, Japanese, and Western languages, Hinsch leads us through a journey of discovery into the world of medieval China, covering multiple aspects of women’s lives, from destitute widows to a powerful empress. This work will be appreciated by students, scholars, and general readers alike who want better to understand gender relations and historical developments in China during the great Tang dynasty.

Bettine Birge, University of California, Los Angeles

With this extremely useful volume on women during the Tang period, Bret Hinsch adds to the overall narrative of the history of women in Chinese civilization an important segment covering a time in Chinese history when they certainly made their presence felt...Endnotes ensure that a considerable body of further sources of information is also unobtrusively made available to those using this work as a guide to further reading; the range of secondary scholarship drawn upon is gratifying indeed and includes not only the expected sources in a number of languages but in particular a large number of contributions to recent Chinese academic journals that help to illuminate many facets of the lives of Tang women scarcely touched upon in earlier times.

Journal of Chinese Studies