Bret Hinsch is professor of history at Fo Guang University, Taiwan.

• Major Chinese DynastiesPrefaceChapter 1: Ancient Beginnings: Prehistory, Shang, and Zhou DynastiesChapter 2: Womanhood under Empire: Qin and Han DynastiesChapter 3: Order Out of Chaos: The Early Medieval EraChapter 4: An Era of Effervescence: Tang DynastyChapter 5: The Great Transition: Song DynastyChapter 6: Explorations and Restraints: Ming DynastyChapter 7: Pondering Possibilities: Qing DynastyConclusionGlossaryBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

This book is an informative survey of Chinese women’s history from ancient beginnings to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Hinsch employs conventional dynastic periodization to the subject of women’s history, stressing the construction of female identity in each era by examining the most important female social roles. The author draws on a rich scholarship of primary and secondary sources in English as well as in Chinese and Japanese to bring a fresh perspective to Western readers. The strength of this survey is its emphasis on the vast scope of China’s history as well as the formative impact of earlier eras. Most of the fundamental aspects of gender relations emerged many centuries prior to the well-researched late imperial period. The long time span also helps reveal considerable change and development throughout history. Valuable for Chinese women’s studies and an excellent supplement for courses in gender studies and Chinese history.Summing Up: Highly recommended. General and undergraduate collections and up.