Marriage, Law, and Social Order in the Age of Khubilai Khan, 1260-1368

FAIN: FA-56932-12

Bettine Birge
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA 90089-0012)

My project addresses the shifting boundaries of ethnic, gender, and status privileges in China under Mongol rule (1260-1368) as seen through legal conflicts and philosophical debates that swirled around issues of marriage during the Mongol-Yuan dynasty in China. The study documents how at this time of foreign rule and cultural mixing new policies and discourses emerged, especially those influenced by the rising Neo-Confucian movement, and [how] rapid, sometimes conflicting, evolution of the law set the stage for legal developments in the following centuries that lasted to the end of the imperial era. The work sheds new light on social and intellectual transformations in China and the challenges of governance in the poly-ethnic Mongol empire. The project moreover provides a global, historical perspective on conflicts over marriage, identity, social values, and the role of government in regulating public and private life within a multi-ethnic society.

Associated Products