Empire at the Margins: Culture, Ethnicity, and Frontier in Early Modern China Volume 28 - Hardcover

by Pamela Kyle Crossley (Editor), Helen F. Siu (Editor), Donald S. Sutton (Editor)

Focusing on the Ming (1368-1644) and (especially) the Qing (1364-1912) eras, this book analyzes crucial moments in the formation of cultural, regional, and religious identities. The contributors examine the role of the state in a variety of environments on China's "peripheries," paying attention to shifts in law, trade, social stratification, and cultural dialogue. They find that local communities were critical participants in the shaping of their own identities and consciousness as well as the character and behavior of the state. At certain times the state was institutionally definitive, but it could also be symbolic and contingent. They demonstrate how the imperial discourse is many-faceted, rather than a monolithic agent of cultural assimilation.

Front Jacket

This book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the construction of identity, especially ethnic identity, in China. The essays are well written and of high quality, and the research is uniformly impressive. Empire at the Margins will likely become a standard work concerning the frontiers of China and the peoples who lived there in the early modern period.--Joanna Waley-Cohen, New York University

Author Biography

Pamela Kyle Crossley is Professor of History at Dartmouth College. Helen Siu is Professor of Anthropology at Yale University. Donald Sutton is Professor of History and Anthropology at Carnegie Mellon University.