K. McMahon

Keith McMahon

Women Shall Not Rule: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from the Legendary Past to the Aftermath of Empress Wu

Description of Research: 

This is an ongoing study of the history of wives and concubines of Chinese rulers from the legendary past to the end of the last dynasty in 1911.  It will result in two volumes, one from the legendary past to the aftermath of Empress Wu; the other from the Song dynasty to the end of the Qing in 1911.  Three main topics organize the discussion: the institution and values of imperial polygamy; the taboo against women rulers, yet the recurrence of their powerful roles nevertheless; and the fascinating stories of the wives and concubines of Chinese emperors.

The first topic treats the institutional structure of imperial polygamy, its rules, expectations, and values, and the actual way in which it worked in its evolution from the Han dynasty to the Qing.  All Chinese emperors were polygamous.  They took multiple wives in order to guarantee male offspring, but they also took wives because they it was their privilege to do so, regardless of the imperial duty to produce a male successor. 

The second topic deals with the fact that China prohibited women rulers, but in spite of the prohibition, women often ruled or otherwise exercised political and military power.  The history of women rulers climaxes in the eighth century with the only woman in Chinese history to call herself emperor.  How such a woman could rule and how such a woman was later prevented from ruling are ongoing questions.

In telling the stories of the wives and concubines of rulers, I make regular reference to literary versions of historical characters and comparisons with Byzantine, Mongol, Mughal, Ottoman, European and other cultures.  An irony of Chinese history is that, in spite of the rule against female rulers, the last major ruler of the last dynasty was a woman: Empress Dowager Cixi (1834-1908), who governed during the last five decades of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).  She ruled because she was capable and ambitious, but she could not have made it so far had it not been for the usual reason that allowed a woman to rule: the death of her emperor-husband and the extreme youth of her son the successor.  In other words, women ruled when men were absent or unfit, and that happened throughout Chinese imperial history to its very end.