1999/01/01 by David N. Keightley · 3 citations
Social Sciences · #Chinese history and philosophy #Japanese History and Culture #Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
paper · doi:10.1163/156852699x00054
openalex publication_date 1999/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
Abstract Despite the local and frequently disparate nature of the evidence, both archaeological and inscriptional, and despite the difficulties involved in interpreting that evidence, the study of particular topics-such as secondary burial, following-in-death, sex ratios, marriage patterns, childbearing, Shang royal consorts, Shang ancestresses, and lineage terminology-permits the general conclusion that from at least the Late Neolithic until the Late Shang the political and economic status of most women in China, as represented in burial practices and recorded religious beliefs, was, despite some significant exceptions, inferior to that of most men. The present article provides an initial exploration of how such status distinctions emerged and how they functioned.