The legal status of Chinese women in the Middle ages

Abstract

In the Review of the Book by associate professor Yu. S. Mylnikova authors note that this is the first comprehensive, logically completed study of women’s legal status in the China history (7th–13th centuries) conducted on the basis of legislative sources in Russian Sinology. The author of the Book managed to overcome the stereotyped idea of the complete lack of rights of women in traditional China, concluding that the none-rights status granted to women in the Tang-Song era is unprecedented in the history of Imperial China. The review contains some key provisions and conclusions on the main issues discussed in the Book, relevant, first of all, from the point of view of lawyers studying the Law of China. These are issues of reflecting the women’s legal status in legislative and judicial acts. At the same time, the women’s legal status in the Book is analyzed in the whole variety of their social roles in Medieval China: daughter, wife, mother, stepmother, widow, concubine, nun, singer, servant slave. Serious attention is paid to the woman as a victim and subject of responsibility in sexual and family crimes. The review emphasises the relevance of the monograph from the standpoint of the legal sciences and their teaching. Refs 2.

Keywords:

Medieval China, law history, women’s legal status, family status, offense, liability