This volume deals with the social legislation of Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), following the era of Mongol rule in China. It recounts the circumstances under which the laws were enacted and what the Emperor claimed he was trying to accomplish - a restoration of traditional Chinese social norms. The contents of several codes are discussed in terms of the groups to which they applied and the range of activities they purported to regulate. The early Ming codes formed one of the most comprehensive and cohesive bodies of law in all of Chinese history. Taken as a group, they constituted an autocrate's blueprint for the ideal society. The texts of three codifications - an imperial clan constitution, a general summary of the laws, and guidelines for village life - are translated as appendixes.
Author(s): Edward L. Farmer
Series: Sinica Leidensia
Publisher: Brill
Year: 1995
Language: English
Pages: 259
City: Leiden
Contents
Preface
1 Recreating China
2 Saving the World
3 Creating the New Order
4 Disillusion, Crises and Adjustments
5 Four Ming Codes
6 A Lesser Empire: Han China Restored
7 Ming Autocracy
Appendix One: The August Ming Ancestral Instruction
Appendix Two: The Great Ming Commandment
Appendix Three: The Placard of People's Instructions
Appendix Four: Contents of the Great Ming Code
References
Glossary
Index
